The Swan

Image by notti cabirian via Flickr

 

 

“Look Ma I wore your dress but they’re too big for me.
Don’t I look pretty on it for someone who’s three?”

I liked to play pretend that was my favorite game.
And Ma would always smile at me she’s always been the same.
“Buy me some new clothes Ma like a pair of jeans or two.
Cuz I’m thirteen now all my things should be new.”

I want to have my own style, to choose my own dress.
That’s what big girls do,  we dress to impress.
I changed the way I dress and how I tie my hair.
I wear nicer shoes now and my skin got more fair.

Today it’s different from the days that passed.
A few moments from now I’ll be married at last.
In a corner she sits calmly looking at my way.
At the daughter she hugged and kissed every single day.

I ask my Ma how it should be, since she’s done this before.
I’m not sure if my wedding gown should touch the floor.
“You look pretty my child whatever you wear.
I love your make up and how you did your hair.”

She smiled to me again the way she did before.
Only now she’s smiling to a lady, not a child no more.

 

“  When you grow up your mother says, ‘Wear rubbers or you’ll catch cold.’ When you become an adult you discover that you have the right not to wear rubbers and to see if you catch cold or not. It’s something like that.  ” –  Diane Arbus