Mirror Image Poem by Laurence Overmire

She looks into her mirror
And sees herself
The tilt of the head
The breadth of the smile
The careless curl that brushes the neck
She laughs deliciously
Her beauty like an arrow
Is set into her bow
What foolish men will lose their hearts today?

She saunters through the door
Down the stairs
And looks again
To catch the graceful line
Of her gently gliding form
Descending like a feather
From the downy drafts of heaven.

On the landing she’s a goddess
She can see it in her glass
The jewels that kiss her breast
Are the baubles of a queen
And she laughs
Deliciously
As a man walks up to greet her.

She looks into her mirror
And notes the gleaming of her teeth
The quivering lip like a tempting liqueur
The hint of danger in her glance
And she lets her arrows fly
But the man moves steadily closer...

She bats her eyes coquettishly
He does not flinch
And grabs her in his arms
His eyes like daggers
Knife into hers
The very marrow of her soul
She wonders what he sees there
Groping for her mirror
It shatters on the floor
She looks into his eyes
Mad rivers rushing
Sweeping her deep into the chasm of his being
Holding her paralyzed
She sees anger in a raging fire
Hatred in the burning ice
Fear like a demon lurking in the corner
Pity dripping from the walls of sorrow
And love
Love like a sparrow that bleeds in the night
She screams
And gropes for the mirror
My eyes
What does he see in mine
She gropes for the mirror
She gropes for the mirror
She gropes for the mirror
What does he see
What does he see
What does he see
But the mirror will not say
Broken fragments on the floor...

A stranger stands alone
He looked into her mirror—
But the woman
Disappeared.


(Previously published in The Sidewalk's End, May 2003)