(The following poem first appeared in the 2018 issue of Gateways Creative Arts Journal, themed Remembering and Forgetting)

Who the hell are you?
Don’t think I don’t see you there,
lurking smugly,
checking me out,
searching for one more wrinkle on my face,
yet another white hair on my head,
yet more thinning of it.

Why are you gloating?

Well, you’re not getting away with it.
I can stare right back at you.
I see deep into your eyes,
and that’s where I find her—
the one more recognizable, more what I expect to see.
The one with thick black hair, smooth face,
eyes brightly lit with the anticipation of life.

What did you do with her?

I know she’s still there.
Except she’s not.
She experienced life;
she acquired wisdom.
And it only added dimension to her being.
So you can’t hide her.
She’s here, on this side of the mirror.

And she’s better than ever.

(Photo credit: Lip Kee from Singapore, Republic of Singapore [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)%5D, via Wikimedia Commons)