Poetry Friday: Love Letter to my Ugly Sweater

Poem of the Day!

Love letter to my ugly sweater

Today is ugly sweater day,

Thus the entire school is decorated
Like a Charlie brown Christmas tree,
Wilted over with
Clashing colors and wool-knitted covers
With turtle necks,
Makeshift vests,
Tinsel draped across the chest.
 

But I question whether,

Looking at the tag that dangles from my sweater,
Its creator intended it to be
 
Ugly.
 
Someone scraped together
pennies to pursue a dream,
learned the trade of knits and seams
And produced this for me,

It fits me.
 
This sweater is ugly
To many,
But it keeps me warm
And probably did the same for its previous owner,
Who thought it through
And bought it new,
Who wore it proudly until he outgrew it,
Until it lost the beautiful flicker that once caught his eye
And dumped it off for someone else,
To be recycled multiple times.
 
Some think it to be ugly,
But I think it’s perfect,
And that’s the beauty of this world,
 
That we were all made beautiful,
and this truth:
Someone experienced love,
and you're living proof.

Everything is beautiful--
not to everyone--
but all it takes is one
 
And though people may outgrow you
Label you ugly or mark you a failure,
dump you off for someone else,
stamp you with decreased value
 
You are new to somebody
Who would love for you to keep them warm,
Who will think you fit perfectly,
Who will scrape together pennies and love
And whatever else it takes to wear you with pride,
to never outgrow you.