I leapt from the breach
And found cold the fire
Alive in the creep
Of haunted desire

And there I would see
The pillars of hope
From those who could not try
To relish or cope

Imagine my horror
When, looking on their faces
I saw not their moments,
But dark, empty spaces

Their mouths curled down
In the strangest of sneers
And shivers and aches
And horrors and fears

They told me their name
They showed me their ways
But I won't live longer
Than their empty days

And their mouths turned up
Weak muscles unused
To frowns turning over
And mind laugh bemused

I came home, but I
Found my mirror's deceit
Shown plain to my eyes
The new me to meet.

It's not that I'm new
But maybe you'll see
What I saw out there
Is shown now in me.