Transformation!

 

TRANSFORMATION

An agapanthus leaf, as everybody knows,

Is smooth and curved and leathery; that's the way it grows!

Yet its shadow seems to be all spiky and serrated

Just like the leaves of some sort of fern, which cannot be related!

What a trick of shading! What a sleight of hand!

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One overhung the other.

Now you understand!

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THE EYES HAVE IT!
I've a mind to sue this lady! The one with the violet eyes!
She stole away the best part of my youth!
I'm not prepared to forgive her, and I'll never compromise!
I'm hell-bent on revenge and that's the truth.
Elizabeth and I were born not many months apart
And her career was parallel to mine!
But she was up in celluloid, stealing every heart,
With that certain aura, entrancing and divine,
While I was pouring over books, bespectacled and plain,
Without a single boyfriend to my name!
And seeing her picture daily was a never-ending pain!
Without a doubt she has to take the blame!
I felt that boring hazel eyes were simply below par,
And mousy hair could never rival black!
I yearned to be a celebrity, a fashion-plate, a star,
But my mirror said 'You're just a poor sad sack!'
I'd never have a lover and I'd never be a wife;
I'd never catch the eye of any man!
(And, darling, in the fifties, that was the aim of life!)
I'd simply be a sad old also-ran.
But I've lived a life that's given me the things for which I yearned,
And, today, both Liz and I are old and wise.
I realise it doesn't follow that a young girl will be spurned
Just because she hasn't got those eyes!
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