Don't Look In The Mirror 13+

Mirrors trap alter-egos in this dark poem. One glance, you're caught. Dare to look? Horror

A Noisy Wren Nightmare

Don’t look in the mirror, our alter-ego’s clamoring to get out,
They taunt, “Why deny your stain?”
Whispering in jagged tones, always a beat ahead,
Flexing their independence, like a child learning to walk,
One step forward and two steps —
sideways, just what the world likes,
Just what the world expects,
Its sticky tendrils, snaking around the life.
While life is still tender, it woos the physical,
Using the life to support itself, clawing for the Sun,
Like a strangler fig, it uses everyone — every mirror,
Following us wherever we go, no escaping their cling,
Frozen, I’m caught in their sunken stare.
They are always ready, a split second — you lose it.
You glance at your reflection — they pounce,
Now you are the one in the mirror,
Watching — waiting — ready for that moment to come back.
Yet they falter too — they are you.
So don’t look in the mirror —
Unless — you are the one clamoring to get out.

—Noisy Wren