You could dance to the word “lovely”
slip into a spin around “beautiful”
cascade giggles to “cute”
and freeze in the presence of “pretty”

but never once
have we thought that “ugly” was worth a second glance
or considered the power of “scary”
respected the thought of “terrible”
or rejoiced at the feet of “unfashionable”

no.

we have forgotten to pay our dues to the murky edges
of sweet serendipity's serenade
to take a slow dance with melancholy,
our inability to stop skipping heart beats
has thrown this whole song
just a little off key

So I propose a toast to all of imperfect
and don't call it any greater
because in the end

that’s all it needed to be.