Important Questions Poem by Paula Glynn

If you got lung cancer
After years of smoking
Would you look back
Thinking you had been cool?
Or would you feel like a fool?

If you were being bullied
Would you look in the mirror and care
About your clothes and makeup
Or the latest fashion magazine?

If you were in hell
Being tortured by the devil
His goal to leave you emaciated
Would you really care
About the latest reality TV show?

If you cut yourself
When shaving your legs
Would you care
About how stylish your bathroom?
Or how long your legs?

If you were raped
Would you wear short skirts
And wear high heels
On nights out
To attract men?

If you were lonely
Would you care about your date
Ticking off a checklist
You compiled years ago
To select the perfect person
From their hairstyle
To their relative appearance?

If you were scared
Of being evicted
And sleeping in the snow
You'd put up with evil too
You'd also stop the perfect interior design
You would also cry
And be alone with your thoughts

No longer caring
About fashion or makeup
The other women
Not understanding pain
Their selfish ways
To leave you burning with the shame

Because they sail
On their yachts and boats
They ride private airplanes
And own quarters on trains
Their high fashion cars
Socializing with the stars
Jewellery and lifestyle too
Parties and gatherings
To be in great abudance:
Lucky them

But I am not them
Because I am real
And know in my heart
There is a great deal of love for the people
The whole world over
And that love I won't let anyone steal
My confidence incredibly genuine and real
My personal power no one to ever again steal.