Goodbye, Miss Cheslie

A tribute to a woman whose beauty hid fragility

(With thanks to Elton John)

Goodbye, Miss Cheslie

We never had the chance to talk.

You posed, proud and glorious

As jealous strangers watched.

They crept out through electrons

And spewed hate onto your page

They sent you to check mirrors

And to fear your next birthday.

And in my eyes

You spent years trapped

Like a bird in a glass case

Unsure who could protect you

When they started hammering.

And I wish you’d seen all the love

From friends and family,

Your feathers scattered long before

Your song will ever leave.

Depression is rough

Rougher than law exams or lace

Instagram made you a flawless Black icon

A mask no one could sustain.

After your last breath

Yes, the news still followed you

Headlined with your demise,

Not your kindness, not your truth.

Goodbye, dear Cheslie

From a woman older by a decade

Who knows you as someone more than beautiful,

More than our Miss USA —

As an extraordinary human

Now crowned an angel.

(With thanks also to Bernie Taupin and Maya Angelou)