mirror man

upon first glance, my mirror man

is thin and hollow

a near invisible soulmate

with a glassy sheen

you have to squint to really see

him

the translucent image

of a most perfect being

stunning and proud

and never contrite

a most ideal self

a deception

a trick of the light

perhaps he is that soft, sweet boy

with the soft, sweet smile

or perhaps he is instead

his whip-sharp wit

his clever, melodic words

that make them stop

and think for a while

I love him more than all the rest

and so I tell him this:

close your lips, love

and don’t yet speak

I smell root beer on your breath

and blood between your teeth

you say to me, reflected back now,

that you choose to be alone

but in all the time I have known you

I know

it is not solitude you seek

it’s the inability to be, to act

that drives you down and hardens

you, molding you into something

blank and quiet, cold and clear

it should not matter to them

that you did not choose the gap

in your soul, this emotional leak

rather, you were morphed to be this way

to be perfect

to be complete

you are who and what you are, dear

simple and sweet

and cold like ice

you’re beautiful like it, too

smooth

a chilled reflection

a necklace of lies

a bone dry wreath

do not give in to your rage, love

they will not change, nor can you

yet tendrils of yourself still reach out

and curl around all the others

showing me a multitude of you

a sea of reflections

I watch and I listen

as all turn a cheek

I know you want to scream

every time they’re shaken off

every time you’re left alone again

don’t let creative delusion

cloud your flowery judgment

worlds beckon to you only in your mind

and there alone are you king

come now, mirror man

you believe people bow to your whim

when really, you frighten them

and they’d leave you

and you know it

and it kills you

and that is what you really think

sweet boy, don’t lie

their fear is not what you crave

you will never have

all you need from them

that way

you cannot simply disappear

fading away into nothing

when the you that reigns supreme

is looked down upon

but that is all they want you to do

and sweet boy, you know it

even still, you chase their validation

in doing so

you chase your own death

they cannot love you as you are

perhaps no one can

perhaps no one can love a black hole

where underneath the mask of your smile

is a blank canvas

an empty slate with sharp ridges

that can slice, can cut, can kill

but your slate of face is sweet as sugar

and clear as rainwater

from the clouded sky

with precipitation like tears

from a past you’s eyes

for to me

you are smooth as a mirror, love

and I see my face in yours

even now