This was a little exercise at one of the workshops at the Hebden Bridge Poetry weekend. I think it was in Winston's packed workshop. Looking through my notes, there are one or two bits that i like, so i thought I would share this.

The Plain Girl

 I raise a glass to the plain girl,

She who lives all her life in the shadow of night;

Who is like an oyster hiding a pearl;

May she climb the mountain and reach the light.

I raise another to the beautiful girl,

She who stars in her life like a blinding light.

As the mountain’s shadow falls she looks in her glass

And sees plainly the gathering of night.

(The exercise was to use the same five words in two stanzas:  

Plain, shadow, mountain, light, glass.)