In two dead eyes she gazes
reflecting back the ugly stranger
whose scars and inner bruising’s
cast the essence of a failure

She quickly turns the lights to black
and glares back at the image
but even in the dead of night
she sees the naked hostage

Bound and gagged by cruelty
With no tools to set her free
She begs and pleads the stranger
Let her go just let her be

In denial of self-infliction
and a prisoner of her past
she can’t escape the profile
that the mirror’s reflection casts