Passport Photograph

PASSPORT PHOTOGRAPH

I have to say
it's a disgrace,
that photograph
has changed my face.
These eyes, these lips,
this dimpled chin
are ruined
and my silken skin
looks wrinkled.

Those eyes are not
deep pools of light
they're shallow and
they're far from bright.
My rosebud lips
look very thin,
and lifeless - like
a dry prune skin,
all shrivelled.

My nose is spoilt
and blemishes
are showing where
no blemish is.
Those sunken cheeks
that scrawny neck,
that photograph
suggests a wreck -
which I am not.

That sneer is not
the way I smile.
it's bogus
and it's not my style.
Features plain
expression cold,
don't you agree,
that photograph
makes me look old?

But look again... it's me!