grandmajuju on Nostr: I wrote a poem tonight at my verbal alchemy group. The writing prompt was “ I’ll ...

I wrote a poem tonight at my verbal alchemy group.
The writing prompt was “ I’ll stare directly at the sun, but never at the mirror.” Tell me what you think?

Mirror mirror on the wall
Who put you up? I hope you fall.
Crash to the ground and shatter
A million pieces of my ego scatter
Cutting into me as they pass by my bare skin
Leaving me pain

Leaving me with a mess to clean up

Piece by piece I pick you up
Carefully placing you in a bucket
Every last piece must go

The day is bright and full of sunshine
I go outside to feel the warmth
Staring into the sun until I’m blinded
Wanting to open my eyes to a new life

I carry you down to the Lakeside
You jiggle around making sounds of disagreement
You don’t want to go
You didn’t mean to fall and shatter

I sit on the end of the break wall far away from shore
Picking up each piece of you carefully
Gazing and remembering
Then I tossed that piece of you into the lake
Until I’ve gone through every piece
You now belong to the lake waves

You will tumble and churn
Polishing and smoothing your sharp edges
Reshaping you
For years

Until one day those pieces find their way to the shore
Smooth, soft, shiny, polished

You wait in the sunlight
Someone comes along and catches your reflection
They pick you up, cherishing you like a treasure

Knowing nothing of your past
Seeing you for the beautiful treasure, you’ve become
Holding you up to the sunlight, making you sparkle

The broken pieces of my ego
Happiness for someone who needs it
Turning something dark and feared
A reflection of who I once was
into a gift to be hung in a wind chime made of lake shells and glass
Forever, catching a breeze and making someone smile .