She Calls Herself Beautiful: Little Dancer

Bold in beauty, hiding no shame,

She spins and sings, as I call out her name.

Her lashes are wispy, her hair matted in sweat,

She dances as one who has no regret.

Her look is ethereal, her innocence pure,

Her confidence beaming, her smile demure.

This little sparkle of 3-year-old light,

The object of her mother’s love and delight.

She asks, “am I pretty?” but smiles all the same,

She knows the answer, it doesn’t change.

She sings to the music she hears on the air,

Giggling, laughing, no need to fear.

Hands flailing wildly, toes pointed straight,

She knows she’s a dancer, that this is her fate.

Her true self displayed, for all to behold,

She knows she is beautiful without being told.

She is secure in this love, making her lovely, alive

My daughter, stay here, don’t get swept out with the tide.

You see…

Other girls have not told her that she cannot dance

Or that she has the wrong shoes, the wrong dress, the wrong pants.

She has not accused herself or believed the lies

That her identity changes because of her looks, or her size.

She has not yet spent hours, angry at the mirror,

Frustrated her clothes don’t fit, her selection growing fewer.

She has not distorted her body to fit some ideal

Her behaviour a slave to the way that she feels.

She has not spent years fighting the inevitable changing

Of a body that ages, has babies, keeps rearranging.

She has not been told she’s ugly, too small or too fat

She has not yet been shaken by empty words like that.

Little one, I wish to be more like you

And Cast off all the shadows and dance along too.

Climb out of the shame I’ve carried for too many steps

Be reminded I’m His and He has no regrets.

I’m made in His image, and should twirl in his delight

I’m loved, He sings over me, I can live in His light.

So teach me, dear daughter, on this dance floor

To flail and to point, and to sing a little more.

We’ll dance because we’re loved, and beautiful to behold

Whether 3-year-old twirling or 35 years old.

Dance on, little dancer, dance with all of your heart,

Let your life be led from this place at the start:

Where your identity is secure in the love that you know

Don’t let this light fade as you change and you grow.

His love is fixed, even if your body betrays

Go on and dance: twirl, spin and sway.

And stay.

This way.