My cat was afraid to look in the mirror.
I would scoop him up under the belly, and hold him up to his tiny reflection.
He looked away, always with a painstaking look on his face.
Never once, looking into the mirror.
The tiny brain,
unable to perceive the strange and complicated reality which meets it right in the eyes
it’s own eyes
making it all the more terrifying
and real
and therefore
Necessary to neglect.