Beauty Poem by Philip Emmanuel Penaflor

I asked a lady friend why a ring in every finger of her hands
and loud chains on her neck matched with imposing earrings;
"It makes me feel beautiful when people turn their eyes on me".
"But isn't it oppressive? " I asked her. Then turned grimfaced
she said, "actually the truth is they are really a burden to wear".
"Ah, the price of beauty", I said. "Is it really necessary for you
to suffer that much in order to feel beautiful and attractive?

"What have you learned from Shakespeare on beauty? " I asked.
"That beauty is bought by judgment of the eye", she pondered.

"And which is very true", I said. "In fact the ancient Greeks to
John Lyly, and even Benjamin Franklin, or David Hume, all have
profounded that beauty exists in the minds of those who see it".
"And beauty is in the eye of the beholder? " she thought aloud.
"Ah yes, you know ‘The Duchess', Margaret Wolfe Hungerford".

"Therefore, every woman is beautiful in her own right! " I said.