The elegant nature of Mirrors

The mirror showed a reflection that wasn't my own, but was only an illusion fabricated to soothe and placate the actual face staring into it's depth.

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who is the fairest of them all"? I asked, as if all mirrors were like that of the wicked queen of yore.

The mirror was silent. Who could blame the thing for it's silence in the face of the impossible. It was incapable of lies. Once upon a time it would have chimed up happily with flattery and promises which it could keep. But now standing, hoping and staring into it's lovely outer facade was an aging sad face, once the fairest in the land, now desperate for what once was. A face that would do anything to become a shadow of the thing which it once was.

Over the years it had asked for sacrifices of the purest white doves, I would release it into the mirror's 'innerness' and it would squeeze the blood as I watched it drip slowly to the floor. I was then required to drink of it's purity and thus revert to my youth. Now there was one fairer than I. The doves could no longer help me.

What followed next was mere fantasy controlled by a cruel mirror to get what it wanted. It wanted blood sacrifice. So it concocted a story within an alternate universe, where I dreamed on a different plane of existence. I had been transported beyond my normal sense of reasoning. I heard the mirror speak, yet I was not physically close, or even in the same dimension. My desire to become young again had warped time and space and I no longer had control of my faculties. I was there and I was here. The two me's were having a virtual tug-of-war within my head.

"To become what you once were, a greater sacrifice must be offered". I was ecstatic to hear it speak again, it had been silent all these past years. Something had changed, my curiosity was peaked, I would do anything that it asked of me.

"What would you have me do"? I expected some terrible act of horror would surely be the answer.

"You must sacrifice the thing that you treasure the most"? The cruel mirror answered coldly. How could such a lovely thing be capable of asking for something so terrible and despicable.

Yet, what was it that I treasured the most, I asked myself. Was it my life, was it that of my only child, the light of my life. I stood long pondering the enigmatic answer. Vanity always asks of us that which we must always be prepared to offer. Mostly the sacrifice is very high monetary value. Yet there always comes a time when no amount of money may change a situation which is no longer possible within the world or realm in which we reside. The mirror knew that, yet what it asked it knew to be impossible.

The pleasant visage of the mirror shifted and a door appeared, I could see only darkness as far as my eyes peered.

"What is your answer"? The mirror asked.

"I have no immediate answer, for what you ask is not an easy task". I replied

"At midnight this night, I must have your answer, or a price will be exacted without mercy". Was I being threatened by a mirror. What had I got myself into?

"Bring with you that which I ask". Mirror ordered,

All day I pondered what it was that this new madness asked of me could possibly be. I told my child the situation and this essence of a being looked at me with eyes that mirrored the mirror. Could I possibly be so vain, the eyes asked silently. The answer was yes, I could and would do anything to be forever superficially beautiful. Yet is it not what is beneath, that after all really mattered, you would probably ask. You know the answer, the world only cares about what they can see, why shouldn't I.

"I shall accompany you Mother". The child said. Deep down wondering if I could sacrifice my own flesh and blood for the sake of vanity. This was a trial by fire for the soul of a being, mine.

Midnight drew near within the "Garden of good and evil", this being by definition, my heart.

We stood before the mirror, my child and I, I had a decision to make. The mirror waited.

Wolfgang Hasselmann

A landscape appeared within the mirror. The trees bled red amidst the green of the other trees. Soon all would be dripping red with the blood of many precious doves.

"Come closer and see the results of your quest for vanity these many years. The blood of the sacrificed doves has seeped into the heart of the world, turning everything blood red, as the redness seeps into nature, so seeps it into the hearts of men everywhere. Vanity joins vanity and it spreads like a cankerous sore into everything it touches". The mirror spoke sadly.

I heard my child wince and shudder. What terrible things for a child to hear.

Suddenly I was within the mirror. The agony of a million souls sang of many horrors as the leaves of the trees whispered for lives past and lives to come. I walked for a thousand years, unable to find my way back. What had I, and those like me, done to the unsuspecting world.

I knew what I had to do. My sins resolved, I was transported back to the present. I had been gone for a mere few seconds here, but a Millenium there.

I fell to my knees. "I will never again pander to my vanity. I sacrifice myself for the redemption of all others who made the same mistakes which I have made". I begged.

"Arise and go in peace. Let the new found peace allow you to 'lead with your heart' as the song is sung.

I blinked, my attention returning from the occurrence of a few minutes ago. The mirror had shown me all this within the short time in which I had stood before its innocent seeming presence. I was alone. I had been judged, found wanting and forgiven.

Vanity is a matter of perspective. One has to measure how much to love oneself while seeing beyond the veil of self to see and understand those around us.

Still I shall fight for the retaining of a youthful appearance for as long as gravity and self allows.

I swear that I heard the mirror laugh somewhere deep within it's depth.

The beginning!