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 Friday night charades of youth
Were spent on one more beautiful
At seventeen, I learned the truth
And those of us with ravaged faces
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
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
And those whose names were never called
When choosing sides for basketball
The world was younger than today
And 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