Beautiful
Lan Williams
by Lan Williams
I traded my hair
for a little more life.
Darkened lips,
yet still a smile.
Some are beautiful by appearance;
I am beautiful
by the rough roads I’ve survived.
Wrinkled skin,
pale lips,
unsteady legs—
yet deep within my eyes,
something beautiful
still remains.
Lan Williams is a six-year stage IIIC ovarian cancer survivor living in Upstate New York. In 2022, the cancer spread to her lungs and liver, progressing to stage IV. She writes in both Vietnamese and English, drawing inspiration from the unexpected moments of life with metastatic cancer. Her Vietnamese poetry has been published in Vietnam. Through her stories and poems, she hopes to help others feel seen, understood, and a little less alone.
