Lucrezia’s Ballad

 
My faults are many or so I’m told
but what about my good qualities?
praised if held by another
but unseen within me.

 
Dose my appearance so disgust those around me
 that it blinds them to all the good that is in me?
Because it is there, I know it is
though they would have me think that all
I am is wrong, that I am nothing but a tainted smear,
a burden that they must bear.

 
But I know it is there, my mother told me so
and she would never lie.

 
She told me that I will have to be strong,
stronger than everyone else
because all my life people will wish to put me down.
They will try to hurt me with words
or even with violence but  I must not give into their hate.

 
She told me that I will learn to rise above it,
that I will find a place where I belong
with friends and maybe even a lover who will hold me close
and whisper words of love instead of hate.

 
She told me those who can look beyond my face,
my unsightly hide will be worth the wait.
They will see me for who I am
and they will love me just as she loves me.

 
I just have to be strong for now
and maybe, just maybe I will learn to love me too.