everyday I’m stared into
cried to, confessed to
when the face appears in my vision,
she usually stays a while,
never looking the same from the time she arrives
to the moment she leaves,
face outline and colorful one moment
smudged and plain the next

on occasion she has a lover to show me
taking up a space I could never fill,
telling her sweet little words that ring in her ears
but they come and they go,
never long to stay,
no one like me.
they don’t see it all
the highs, the lows
her smiles and bright eyes
as they dim at night

when her hope seems lost
i wish to cradle her
wrap her in arms that i cannot afford
i wish she saw herself the way i see her
i wish those she brought around gave her more
but she always returns to me, day after day
staring into my eyes and speaking to me
she knows i am voiceless yet she feels me listening
unless

unless she speaks only to herself
the reflection she stares at
she doesn’t see me,
just her eyes in my sight
that’s the thing about mirrors
we’re all an illusion