IconElegies

I was a beauty without equal, but my beauty did not save me. My mother locked me in a dark closet. I died even though I lived in all that dirt and smell, naked and ugly like an animal in a cage. My crime was to fall in love with the wrong man. I brought shame with my madness. The century changed and I knew nothing about it. My love kept me alive, but not in my mind for 25 years. When I saw the light again, my eyes could not stand it nor my soul nor my love. Poet's note. Blanche Monnier lived locked in a dark room for 25 years.

She was the most beautiful woman in the world. Once a national treasure, the object of men's dreams, seducing by being, violating by loving. She became invisible long before her death. Withdrawing from the dream. Words were false, beauty became obsolete. She only loved animals, wives were allowed to keep their husbands. Death made it official. The most beautiful woman in the world was dead. God created a woman, Brigitte Bardot, now sleeping forever.