I learned the truth at seventeen
That love was meant for beauty queens
And high school girls with clear skinned smiles

Who married young and then retired
The valentines I never knew
The Friday night charades of youth

Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen I learned the truth


And those of us with ravaged faces
Lacking in the social graces
Desperately remained at home

Inventing lovers on the phone
Who called to say - come dance with me
And murmured vague obscenities

It isn't all it seems at seventeen

A brown eyed girl in hand me downs

Whose name I never could pronounce
Said - pity please the ones who serve
They only get what they deserve

The rich relationed hometown queen
Marries into what she needs
With a guarantee of company

And haven for the elderly

So remember those who win the game

Lose the love they sought to gain
In debentures of quality and dubious integrity
Their small-town eyes will gape at you

In dull surprise when payment due
Exceeds accounts received at seventeen


To those of us who knew the pain
Of valentines that never came
And those whose names were never called

When choosing sides for basketball
It was long ago and far away
The world was younger than today

When dreams were all they gave for free
To ugly duckling girls like me


We all play the game, and when we dare
We cheat ourselves at solitaire
Inventing lovers on the phone

Repenting other lives unknown
That call and say - come on, dance with me
And murmur vague obscenities

At ugly girls like me, at seventeen