Layers

You hide behind layers of makeup
to silence the worries that torment your self-esteem.
The face in the mirror, without all the colors
doesn't satisfy the darkness hidden in your eyes,
and you paint your face like an empty canvas
failing to see the beauty of simplicity.

Your reflection only serves to make you feel insufficient,
the mirror a constant reminder of all you could've been but weren't.
You only see the scars etched across your heart
and the freckles that dance across your skin.
You don't see beauty, you see imperfection.

At night, you peel back each layer erasing them one by one,
peeling back layers of yourself,
until nothing is left but your brittle skeleton and hollow eyes.
That's what you see when you look in the mirror, but look again,
for there are stars where your eyes should be,
and your ivory skin glows with the light inside your heart.

Peel back the layers, peel back the darkness and reveal the light,
for there is music in your soul, and strength within your heart,
and no amount of color splashed across a canvas
could be more beautiful than that.