Pretty girl in the sunshine
Pretty girl in the moonlight
Pretty girl reading philosophy on the couch
as she wonders what makes someone perfect.

Pretty girl is a reflection
What everyone wants to be
This pretty girl with raven hair and nighttime eyes
Small, curved, pretty and perfect
Pretty girl who gets A’s without trying
Sitting in class drawing beautiful pictures of angels
and still answering correctly when she’s called on
Pretty girl singing in perfect pitch
WIth the voice of a bird
This pretty girl that everyone wants to be.

Pretty girl sleeping in late and staying up all night
Pretty girl writing poetry and stories and songs
that bring tears to her friends’ eyes
Pretty girl making everyone smile
Pretty girl making friends with no trouble
with her pretty girl smile.

Pretty girl isn’t perfect.

Pretty girl, sitting in a room and trying to block out the voices
Pretty girl fending off the attentions of the others trapped with her
Pretty girl drawing her angels and flowers
and ignoring orders to draw what she really feels
Pretty girl drawing pretty pictures
Saying pretty things
Smiling her pretty smile when they tell her
“You’re so honest with us, you don’t hold it against us that you’re so much smarter and prettier and less crazy than us,”
Pretty girl getting the hell out and returning to her perfect world.

Pretty girl obeying her family
Pretty girl always smiling at her friends
Pretty girl always serving
Pretty girl always saying the right things.

Pretty girl in love.

Pretty girl smiling at her friend while she stares across the room
Watching her pretty friend as she talks to the others near her
Pretty girl admiring and wishing and never getting
Pretty girl hiding her secret
Pretty girl loving another pretty girl.

Pretty girl whispering in her ear
Losing her words and talent
Only able to say what she feels
Pretty girl hoping against hope
Praying to a God she knows must hate her now
Wishing that she’ll hear the same
from this other pretty girl.

Pretty girl staring with her nighttime eyes
Feeling the hands on her skin
Hearing the words that mean nothing
and still everything...

Pretty girl parts her lips,
Buries her hands in the sunset,
and knows that she is damned.