Bottomless Mirror

From my essay, "A Cracked Mirror or a Bottomless Well"

Bottomless Mirror

Losing my vision, lost sense of my place,

Outside of my time, beyond comfort’s space.

A mirror reflects

What anguish erased.

I stared into glass,

Find I’m looking back

Truth locked in silver,

My cracks etched in black.

-

I searched for meaning

In a bottomless well,

Regret at the bottom,

A fast fall into hell.

Falling feels weightless

No pain and no sound.

There’s nothing to realize

When you can’t find the ground.

-

A cracked mirror cuts deep

Where silence once slept,

A scar on the soul

From secrets I try to keep

To fall is too easy

To gaze is to war.

One path is hollow;

The other, a door.

-

I’ve drowned in the comfort

Of pain I avoid,

And climbed through the wreckage

I nearly destroyed.

My purpose is forged

In the heat of the stare

No peace in the falling,

Just mending through glare.

-

So, please show me the mirror

Bleed crimson, I must.

Better the wound of the eye

Than a life rotting in rust.

I’ll pay for my peace

With the price of the stare.

The well may be bottomless

But there’s nothing down there.