I learned the truth at seventeen  That love was meant for beauty queens  And high school girls with clear skinned smiles  Who married young and then retired  The valentines I never knew  The Friday night charades of youth  Were spent on one more beautiful  At seventeen I learned the truth  And those of us with ravaged faces  Lacking in the social graces  Desperately remained at home  Inventing lovers on the phone  Who called to say - come dance with me  And murmured vague obscenities  It isn't all it seems at seventeen  A brown eyed girl in hand me downs  Whose name I never could pronounce  Said-pity please the ones who serve  They only get what they deserve  The rich relationed hometown queen  Marries into what she needs  With a guarantee of company  And haven for the elderly  Remember those who win the game  Lose the love they sought to gain  In debentures of quality and dubious integrity  Their small town eyes will gape at you  In dull surprise when payment due  Exceeds accounts received at seventeen  To those of us who knew the pain  Of valentines that never came  And those whose names were never called  When choosing sides for basketball  It was long ago and far away  The world was younger than today  When dreams were all they gave for free  To ugly duckling girls like me  We all play the game, and when we dare  To cheat ourselves at solitaire  Inventing lovers on the phone  Repenting other lives unknown  Who call and say - come dance with me  And murmur vague obsceneties  To ugly girls like me, at seventeen.