The Conceit of Glamour

Nature bestowed many emotions on her

creatures among them vanity deemed by

her godly critics an iniquitous vice to be

avoided in pursuit of finer qualities. Yet the

Peacock and the Bird of Paradise flaunt their

peerless beauty in a glory of coloured plumage

to universal admiration. Oriental sages and

emperors alike and their concubines cherished

rapier-length fingernails as a symbol of their

status; sagacity, position and beauty all

treasured, coveted and rare. The message not

lost that their lofty status exempted them from

raw manual labour. That ethos lingers through

the ages to the present where the rare assumes

rude status in popular culture wherein the trivial

reigns supreme and those portraying themselves

as rapper 'artists' with sloe eyes, bronze skin

and gleaming smiles attest to their status as

icons of popular acclaim manifested in the allure

of their presence through the cultivation of fingernails

so outgrown as to make it impossible to manage

pedestrian use of their immaculate hands, a willing

and telling sacrifice to the conceit of glamour.