Porcelain Shell

How "rich"
So lovely
Delicately divine
You wear it so well

 

Does it make you
Feel lighter?
Faster?
Even translucent?

 

A small fortune
It must have cost?
Shame on me!
How gauche
of me to ask

 

And underneath?
May I peek?
Why if it isn't!
The same old shell!

 

Still scarred
Still stained
And so many
Age spots (tsk, tsk)

 

Ah, but today you look
Lovely, just lovely
In your fine new
Porcelain shell

- T.G. Friel