TO A PRETTY YOUNG WOMAN

   

                                       Dear, you are not your clothes!
                                        "Pockebook" and sweater,
                                        You go on without them--
                                         Even when you're sleeping!

                                        When you leave this world
                                         They won't follow you to the kingdom
                                                                              of the dead.

                                         You'll go naked!

                                         I'm not saying you shouldn't dress,
                                         But a year or two without going
                                         In a single store
                                         Wouldn't hurt you.

                                          I used to think because girls were pretty
                                         They were therefore intact.

                                         But growing up did the same thing
                                         To you that it did to me,
                                         So let's both admit where we are
                                         And get on with it!

                               

                                           previous poem      next poem