Loved all along.

She parted her bangs one day,
And looked into the mirror,
She decided that it was time to say,
Something and make it clearer.

She wanted to grow her hair out,
Just to give it all away,
Though she was young,
She knew she had to,
And no one would could make her change.

And years went by,
Her hair would grow,
That’s how people knew her.
‘Twas not her name,
Nor her face,
Just the golden hair that followed.

It prompted compliments on the street,
Subway stations,
Strangers she’d meet,
And for a while it made her heart glow,
But for a while,
She didn’t really know.

She didn’t really know who she was,
Without her hair.
Because her hair became who she was.
She used it to hide her curves and edges,
That didn’t make her thin.

She would hide her face beneath it,
And she knew she would be treated
Differently without her Rapnuzel hair,
Would the people continue to care?

So she knew she had to cut it,
It was just a matter of years.
She said it every month or two,
But was too controlled by fear.

And then,
It was gone.
It was really gone.
Ten years of hair was gone.
She looked into the mirror and saw
The same person
All along?
Maybe she was more than
The hair she’d grown for ages.
Maybe the past is gone now
Along with the split ends and edges.

She only hoped that one day,
She would know her own worth,
Was not defined by how she looked,
Or how may compliments her hair earned.

She just wanted to be loved,
With or without her hair,
She no longer wanted to live
In the shadows of her own fear.
Being confined to what others think of you,
Is no healthy way to move along,
Maybe one day she’ll know that,
And her anxieties will be gone.

Maybe one day I’ll know that
I was loved all along.