the standard candle

s/he thought that s/he was
something,
growing up in a small town---
biggest fish, hottest thing
running & everybody wanted
a piece of him/her,
but when s/he got bored of
it all, s/he wanted to move to
the city &
s/he even hummed the tune on
the way there,
riding in the significant other’s
ride at the time, whom s/he
subsequently ditched,
the minute s/he set foot in
the concrete jungle---
but his/her eyes
did not shine as shiny as they
had been, in the dinky little town,
nor did all his/her attributes
deemed attractive by others,
shout the same shout of physical
victory,
when walking through the streets,
as they had before---
this once crème de la crème,
now is nothing but the standard,
a shine that can be outshined
easily,
something conventionally
beautiful, whose luster
simply does not wow the crowd
like it once did &
it makes him/her have to rethink
their whole reason for coming to
the bigger pond,
in order to flaunt what they thought
they had,
whilst the jungle wails in laughter,
a guffaw reminiscent of Nelson
Muntz on The Simpsons---
“heh heh!”