You carry yourself so well.

It’s as if you know that your dignity is worth holding up,

embracing,

thrusting at the light.

Your bloodied veins still show, of course –

but when you allow the sun to strike its bargain,

they glow with compassion

and character seeps from their startled cuts.

I stand green with envy,

hoping that if I remain in close proximity,

your rainbow tints will charge my flesh

with Life,

and my heart will pound with this startling infusion,

this glorious brilliance of hue,

and perhaps someone will see that

I am beautiful, too…