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.
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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.
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