Mirror Poem by Chenjerai Mhondera

And for a long time
You were there standing;
Looking me in the eyes.

And for a long time
indeed you stood
unblinking,
sometimes harshly
to judge me.

You said I was no cute,
Sometimes you would say my nose was too big,
My eyes this and that,
My mouth too small.
Sometimes You would say it;
My face doesn't to look like them;
My skin dull and thick.

Sometimes you were a diviner.
Sometimes you were a prophet.
Sometimes you were like a magician.
Sometimes you were my inspiration.
Sometimes you were my motivation.

You were there
For me;
Sometimes alone together,
Sometimes alone, alone;
Peeping not;
To tell the pimple on my face -
That dimple on my cheek.

Sometimes you were rude
to my perfect imperfections
and imperfect perfections