“For attractive lips, only speak kind words.”

That was the lesson from my girlhood days

in church

I remember often.

Only our mothers wore makeup, and usually it was sparse—

natural was the look, unless seeking, gossiped about.

Ours was the attractiveness of being pleasant, kind,

and don’t speak unless you have something good to say.

I could never fully grasp

what was good enough to say

or less enough to say.