They told her
That women fade out
Of the spotlight
As time
Tic-toc
Passes by
And they fade
Melt
And sag
In the summer heat
Of the ellipsoidals  

They told her
That she wouldn't live
If she put on her armor
To fight off the criticism
And she donned the golden band
Uniting her with her dreams

They told her
That she would be surrounded by people
But entirely alone

And she listened
But behind her teeth
She locked a thousand biting words
And a lashing tongue
That she yearned to unleash
On their haloed heads

Instead she shrugged on her apathy
Strangely warm
And gray-hooded
Like a murky puddle
Formed on the cracked asphalt
Of an abandoned playground

But when she went home at night
What they said
Dared her to prove them wrong
So she shook off the gray
And the murk
And she did.