Pity the Beautiful by Dana Gioia Pity the beautiful,  the dolls, and the dishes, the babes with big daddies granting their wishes. Pity the pretty boys, the hunks, and Apollos, the golden lads whom success always follows. The hotties, the knock-outs, the tens out of ten, the drop-dead gorgeous, the great leading men. Pity the faded, the bloated, the blowsy, the paunchy Adonis whose luck’s gone lousy. Pity the gods, no longer divine. Pity the night the stars lose their shine.

Response Poem by Veronica  C

Pity the People Who Pity the beautiful Because summer fades? At least they were warm. At least they shone. (Should the young be pitied their youth?) Pity beauty Because it will break— Like dolls and dishes— Like waiting wishes? Pity the pretty Who glow with Apollo Whom success follows— Gorgeous, if cold, gold? No, pity the Adonis Gored by the boar Whose Beauty is nothing more Than the gods— That is the reason: Pity beauty only If it’s Treason To Goodness and Truth. And pity the ugly Who waste wishes on beauty. And pity the plain Whose own faces Cause shame. Pity those Who  hide because Their beauty does. Pity they Who long for beauty’s Illusory claim. But more, Pity the people— Pretty, ugly or plain— Who let beauty reign So high In their eyes and hearts.