Real Beauty

Mary Jane in New Jersey sent this poem to me...and I was so moved by it...shaken by it really, that I had to print it here. Each time I read it, the words resonate with me and take me to a higher place.

A perfect example of a woman who cliches could never do justice is President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf pictured here. She is the president of Liberia and Africa’s first elected female head of state. President Sirleaf is recognized for her distinguished career over four decades of fighting for freedom, justice and equality both in the private and public domain of Liberia and internationally.

I had the privilege of meeting her a couple of years ago and she epitomizes MY definition of beauty. Strong, empowered, gracious, tender, directive and present. I felt my own strength, power and potential simply being in her presence.

Now...onto that poem.

No More Clichés

Beautiful face

That like a daisy opens its petals to the sun

So do you

Open your face to me as I turn the page.

Enchanting smile

Any man would be under your spell,

Oh, beauty of a magazine.

How many poems have been written to you?

How many Dantes have written to you, Beatrice?

To your obsessive illusion

To you manufacture fantasy.

But today I won't make one more Cliché

And write this poem to you.

No, no more clichés.

This poem is dedicated to those women

Whose beauty is in their charm,

In their intelligence,

In their character,

Not on their fabricated looks.

This poem is to you women,

That like a Shahrazade wake up

Everyday with a new story to tell,

A story that sings for change

That hopes for battles:

Battles for the love of the united flesh

Battles for passions aroused by a new day

Battle for the neglected rights

Or just battles to survive one more night.

Yes, to you women in a world of pain

To you, bright star in this ever-spending universe

To you, fighter of a thousand-and-one fights

To you, friend of my heart.

From now on, my head won't look down to a magazine

Rather, it will contemplate the night

And its bright stars,

And so, no more clichés.

Octavio Paz