Autobiography of a Face

Look to the lines
Not just the brow:
Around the nose
Beside the mouth
Beneath the eyes
Even the chin

Observe the chin
Weak or strong lines?
And keep your eyes
On the eyebrow
The second mouth
Speaks what it knows

Ignore the nose
For shape, the chin
Betrays the mouth
With habit-lines
A furrowed brow
Stays in the eyes

To the right eyes
Or a keen nose
Loquacious brow
Will soon pitch in
Those tell-tale lines
Though closed the mouth

And by that mouth
Behind the eyes
Are written lines
That life well knows
Proud, forward chin
Hides anxious brow

Oh, traitor brow!
Though pinched the mouth
And bold the chin
The brow holds “ayes”
Where tongue claims “noes”
In practiced lines

Writ on the brow, clear to my eyes
An open mouth above the nose
Take on the chin: truth in those lines


Prompt: Anatomy of a Face
Form: Sestina

This was fun. Sestinas can be cumbersome, but by keeping the lines short, I managed to get through it in the time. 

 

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