he tells me I am beautiful as if that is my only value. I am a body, I am a soul, I am a heart that beats for more than a face, more than a shape. I am a mind that aches to be loved after the curves roll away and the face curdles and I wear the life I've lived proudly - I ache to be more than a physical treat, I ache to know that once my beauty fades that my heart and mind will still be valued as much as the vessel they exist in.