They tell me that I used to have beautiful, pearly white teeth in a dazzling smile
Someone said that I used to brush my hair-and shower every day!
But now, they have cut off all my hair, because the mats were too thick to get a brush through.
And then, there was the bugs.
The woman here at the shelter told me that I used to have a beautiful home, and good friends...
I think she was telling me pretty stories to make me want to live.
I cannot remember the smell of perfume, or how to apply make-up.
Did I dream it-or was I once a beautiful woman?
It must have been a dream, because when I look into the dim mirror,
I see only a toothless hag with black circles under her sunken eyes.
My bones protrude, and I no longer care about such things as hair, and teeth, and showers.
I choose to stay in my self-created world of fantasy.
Here-I am safe. There are no mirrors, and no one expects anything of me;
No one cares what happens to me.
I like it that way.