You're Beautiful - Simon Armitage

You're Beautiful because you're classically trained.

I'm ugly because I associate piano wire with strangulation.

You're beautiful because you stop to read the cards in newsagents' windows about lost cats and missing dogs.

I'm ugly because of what I did to that jellyfish with a lolly-stick and a big stone

You're beautiful because for you, politeness is instinctive, not a marketing campaign

I'm ugly because desperation is impossible to hide.

Ugly like he is,

Beautiful like hers,

Beautiful like Venus,

Ugly like his,

Beautiful like she is,

Ugly like Mars.

You're beautiful because you believe in coincidence and the power of thought.

I'm ugly because I proved God to be a mathematical impossibility

You're beautiful because you prefer home-made soup to the packet stuff.

I'm ugly because once, at a dinner party, I defended the aristocracy and wasn't even drunk.

You're beautiful because you can't work the remote control.

I'm ugly because of satellite television and twenty-four hour rolling news.

Ugly like he is,

Beautiful like hers,

Beautiful like Venus,

Ugly like his,

Beautiful like she is,

Ugly like Mars.

You're beautiful because you cry at weddings as well as funerals.

I'm ugly because I think of children as another species from a different world.

You're beautiful because you look great in any colour including red.

I'm ugly because I think shopping is strictly for the acquisition of material goods.

You're beautiful because when you were born, undiscovered planets lined up to peep over the rim of your cradleand lay gifts of gravity and light at your miniature feet.

I'm ugly for saying 'love at first sight' is another form of mistaken identity and that the most human of all responses is to gloat.

Ugly like he is,

Beautiful like hers,

Beautiful like Venus,

Ugly like his,

Beautiful like she is,

Ugly like Mars.

You' re beautiful because you've never seen the inside of a car-wash,

I'm ugly because I always ask for a receipt.

You're beautiful for sending a box of shoes to the third world.

I'm ugly because I remember the telephone numbers of ex-girlfriends and the year Schubert was born.

You're beautiful because you sponsored a parrot in a zoo.

I'm ugly because when I sigh it's like the slow collapse of a circus tent.

Ugly like he is,

Beautiful like hers,

Beautiful like Venus,

Ugly like his,

Beautiful like she is,

Ugly like Mars.

You're beautiful because you can point at a man in a uniform and laugh.

I'm ugly because I was a police informer in a previous life.

You're beautiful because you drink a litre of water and eat three pieces of fruit a day.

I'm ugly for taking the line that a meal without meat is a beautiful woman with one eye.

You're beautiful because you don't see love as a competition and you know how to lose.

I'm ugly because I kissed the FA Cup then held it up to the crowd.

You're beautiful because of a single buttercup in the top buttonhole of your cardigan.

I'm ugly because I said the World's Strongest Woman was a muscleman in a dress.

You're beautiful because you couldn't live in a lighthouse.

I'm ugly for making hand-shadows in front of the giant bulb, so when they look up, the captains of vessels in distress see the ears of a rabbit, or the eye of a fox, or the legs of a galloping black horse.

Ugly like he is,

Beautiful like hers,

Beautiful like Venus,

Ugly like his,

Beautiful like she is,

Ugly like Mars.

Ugly like he is,

Beautiful like hers,

Beautiful like Venus,

Ugly like his,

Beautiful like she is,

Ugly like Mars.

- I love how Armitage has taken the simple concept of beauty and shown how 'true beauty is in the eye of the beholder'. That saying is one the modern society may dispute, proclaiming that beauty is how you have your hair/make-up/whatever done...In essence what this poem shows is that what really defines true beauty is what is within your heart and how you choose to live your life. What makes her beautiful is when she stops to look at the signs for the lost pets in the window, where he is poking a dead jellyfish - she cares about other living things, he doesn't. She believes in coincidence, where he uses reasoning to disprove God - she is open-minded, he isn't. She's never seen the inside of a car-wash, where he always asks for a receipt - she is innocent, he is cynical. She is beautiful in her spirit and that's what he admires about her. Beauty is something you choose to have...great, thought-provoking poem.