Mirror

I don't want to die.

Not just yet.

The mirror reminds me of my destiny.

It is preparing me with sag and lag

And line and crease.

I see that I am fading

And I wonder how the mirror can be so cruel?

I am not the fairest of them all

Although I am lustrous pale

But not snow white

- pale grey,

Fading to white,

Fading slowly to dust.

I wish I could see a terrible fish

But all I see is me reflected

Flawed and less.

I like it because it is me

And I don't like it because it is me.

But it's not, is it?

It's a representation of me, if I choose it to be.

I will not be defeated by a reflection.

It is insubstantial, fleeting:

It's there and then it's gone.

Why hold to what it shows me?

I will look less-

And live more.

*

The line "a terrible fish" is a reference to Sylvia Plath's poem "Mirror", link to which is below: