Value

(for Yu, and women everywhere)

Time and again the mirror to you doth lie,
and deceitful half-truths to you would show;
all these you accept, and to them resign:
they show a woman aging, and you deem her old.

Soon think you your worth has begun to wane
and you bow your head in misery and shame;
you worry that your life’s potential is now done,
and self-pity and despair would soon you claim.

Where, you wonder, have your youth and beauty gone –
where their promise, and where their dawn?

Woman,
if through man’s eyes your Self you assess and see,
by his own prejudices would you blinded be:
your infinite potential and your true worth
would be obscured by a bleak and hopeless dearth -
all your promise and your veracity
would by his own lack overshadowed be.

Henceforth, against your own yardstick
always should you your Self measure –
for man’s standards are truly shallow and fake –

your Self is true,
your immeasurable worth should you always treasure.