To all the boys who think that they’re men.
You may have all the talents in the world,
with intelligence to match,
but let me tell you what else you have.
Girls believing in pseudo promises like glue-on-eyelashes;
surely, they’ll stay,
and they lose something that takes a lifetime to regain.
Simply because you convinced them,
“Honey, you don’t need that.”
It wasn't something she lost in the water,
at seven years old,
pretending to be a mermaid.
It wasn't something she lost on the homecoming dance floor,
at 16 years old,
where even the glitter couldn't compare to the glimmer in her eyes.
It wasn't something she lost by the bedside of a man,
at 25 years old,
lonely, but can't stay the night.
It was something she lost in the depths of her own consciousness.
Boxed away with everything else labeled "junk."
To be forgotten because as long as you tell her she's beautiful,
well, that should be enough.
But then as
you tear away, or repeat it too many times,
she doesn’t believe you anymore.
And she’s left reminiscing about fishing with her grandpa,
casting out a line looking to hook your love
since she can’t find it anymore.
And all the fish in the ocean,
that everyone tells her about, are gone.
Because she can’t taste anyone else on her lips,
and she only wants the fish whose scales
remind her of the color of your eyes.
She’s searching for you,
for without your reassurance,
her confidence is gone.