Reeling...from your blatant disrespect for who I am...
And feeling...like you could never understand...
and yet I'll still extend my hand...

I wonder how you'd feel
inside your mind...
If you could live my life.

Trying to allow myself to see
beyond reflections of
your judgements of me...

Past all those things you disapprove of
and things you think you see---
All of the fragments of all there is to me.

How well I understand your rage...
How well I recognize your pain...

If you could only see...
beyond illusion,
beyond ignorance and apathy...

Through the mirror of me...

Do you recognize me?
Do you like what you see?

Shadowed by the ghosts
of days gone by...
Whispers...fairly shouting in my mind.

Tangled webs of loneliness
strewn amongst
the ruins of denial in all its righteousness.

Confusing empathy with angry jests...
Acceptance...still a word upon a page,
Actions born of anger been displaced.

How well I understand your rage...
how well I recognize your pain...

Oh....if you could only see...
Beyond illusion
beyond ignorance and apathy

Through the mirror of me...

Do you like what you see?
Do you recognize me?

By Cheryl Klassen