The Replacement

the girl                    
I work with
is a marshmallow  girl -
a dark haired dark eyed beauty
with  insides
malleable, mellow, blue
she'll do anything for anyone
anything for you 
her eyes and     
heart are clear -   
the clearest 1 have
ever seen -
there - no wear and
tear has yet
marred  her hue,          
her bloom -
she is clumsy in her
tall frame
but she'll hurt
with  you, feel
with  you,
share  your pain

and  the other girl
is like the bubbles
in champagne,  she is
effervescent, bright
she  laughs, laughs all day
bubbles  bursting, popping easily
in the air - she plays at being -
gives nothing  away -
she  is fair and elusive,
pretty and  gay,
a  petite party,
perpetually happy

but  the new girl
has  a steely skin
 beneath her outward one -
 a hard patina, an underlying layer
 alien to me -
 she is not my kin -
 I sense it like a scent
 we are not the same wavelength -
 not at all -

we are made of obverse
material
but I sense a kith of shared
experience, of equal
trial survived -
her pale blue eyes
give her away
contradict her personality -
she will take my place
with consummate   ease -
outwardly  confident, inwardly
perplexed yet wise

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