I wrote this sonnet back in high school for a school assignment. I remember I was the only one in the class who really nailed the iambic pentameter: props to Shakespeare for writing eleventy billion of these because it’s a lot harder than it looks to get the meter exactly right, and even mine isn’t 100%– can you find the line that I didn’t quite get? But hey, I was only 17 when I wrote this, so you gotta cut me a little slack 😅
Anyway, like a lot of women, I have always struggled with the notion of my outer beauty versus my inner beauty. So much of our value as women is tied to how we look. And a lot of times I don’t feel like I’m very pretty, and I get overlooked a lot in favor of flashier-looking women.
Because everyone seems to want a star like the sun, bright and beautiful and lighting up the day. But the moon has value too, even if it only reflects the sunshine instead of creating it. And I guess that’s a little bit like me? Even on my best day I’m still not ever going to be a piece of arm-candy that’s going to stop traffic and make all of your friends jealous.
But somehow, I still shine. And when I love you, I love you with my whole heart, and I reflect that love by radiating it through the darkness of the night so you can still find your way home, always, to me.
And maybe that makes the moon just as beautiful as the sun, even if not everyone takes the time to see it. And maybe it means that the person who dares to look up into the night sky and truly see the beauty of the waxing and waning of the moon is a very special person indeed.