What if one day,
we met a version of ourselves
crossing the street.
However that version is
how someone else sees us,
and not how we see ourselves.
Not unlike a mirror image,
yet different in so many ways.
We wouldn't be able
to recognize ourselves,
because we see ourselves
in a different light.
We see ourselves in the cold,
white light,
standing in front
of the bathroom mirror,
analyzing.
criticizing.
They see us in the warm sunshine
when our eyes are crinkled
from laughing,
when our hair is blowing
in the breeze.
We see ourselves in numbers.
Grades,
weights,
calories,
They see us in feelings.
Happiness,
passion,
love.
Maybe if we saw
our almost-mirror self
cross the street,
we would see ourselves
differently as well.
We would see
a kinder,
more beautiful,
thinner us.
But in reality,
we'd be the same.
Because mirrors lie to us,
but perspectives do not.