Like Elsa

Family gathered in the conservatory,

youngest niece, Isabella, watches me,

as I rest back on the comfy chair,

sweeping my straggly, static hair

into a messy heap, over one shoulder.

*

Smiling, she says to Christina, her sister -

“Hey look, Dodo* has put her hair like that

and it looks like it’s in a plat, and because

it’s…white, she looks like Elsa”.

*

I’m happy then, delighted to be like

their favorite Disney Character;

It’s the best compliment I’ve had

since depigmentation began.

*

Like the snow queen herself,

in her spectacular ice palace

a resplendant arctic blonde — different,

but shimmering and lovely.

*

I’ll take that and treasure it:

I’m like Elsa.

*

*A colloquial Welsh word meaning ‘aunt’.