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Elizabeth Santos
Member Rara Avis

since 1999-11-08

Posts 9269
Pennsylvania

0 posted 2001-03-18 07:23 AM

Stranger in the Mirror

I had a dream so frightful and bizarre
That made me tremble in the dark of night
From starry skies observing from afar
An opal moon, a witness to my plight
Shown through my window beams of ghostly light

I dreamed I gazed into my looking glass
But it did not reflect my hands or face
Instead it cast back deeds and thoughts that pass
Through someone’s heart and mind, in mirrored space
I could not well detect the stranger's face

Aloud I asked the moon who this could be
So greedy and impoverished a soul
Who never thought to give to those in need
And only sought to conquer selfish goals
So sad a figure each night to behold

There inside the looking glass were scrolled
All the utterances that he had made
Unkind remarks and lies that he had told
And debts to mankind he had never paid
This empty ghost in nightmare glass displayed

Will this strange phantom haunt me to my death?
In looking glass a poor soul full of sin
A faceless image in the mirrors depth
A person looking at himself within
The vision of a spirit growing thin

Night after night the phantom reappeared
And I’d awake in glows of silvery moon
Who watched in sympathy the image feared
Within my looking glass across the room
And we would both its ghastly form consume

Oh, midnight moon, please tell who you suspect
Could be the one who through my dreams have passed
The moon said mirrors only can reflect
The one who stands before the looking glass
The phantom’s name to me was known at last

I then arose and stood before the glass
And there before me was my inner self
A sinful soul now naked and unmasked
The true, the very image of myself
Void of love, life’s only honored wealth

At dawn in brilliant radiance of the sun
I gazed again into the mirrored glass
And saw the greedy person I’d become
The frightful phantom was exposed at last
A stranger in the mirror, my own cast

Elizabeth Santos

Sunshine

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-25

Posts 63354
Listening to every heart

1 posted 2001-03-18 07:40 AM

Only those that know you, sweet Lady Santos, know this to be fiction....a chilling write, one to heed....for those who only live for greed....

Lone Wolf
Member Ascendant

since 2000-03-16

Posts 5842
Lansing, MI USA

2 posted 2001-03-18 08:41 AM

Haunting and intruguing poem, Elizabeth. Excellent moral buried within though. Very well written.

Lone Wolf

Poetry should surprise by fine excess...it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts and appear almost a remembrance. -J.Keats

Denise

Moderator

Member Seraphic

since 1999-08-22

Posts 22648

3 posted 2001-03-18 06:35 PM

Excellent expression, Elizabeth. I think we can all look within and see horrors that would surprise and terrify...most prefer not to look, for that reason...the human condition, to be sure, is not a pretty picture. You have expressed it very well, indeed.

Meadowmuse
Member Elite

since 1999-12-27

Posts 3263

4 posted 2001-03-18 07:49 PM

Masterful, Liz. Thanks for this. (o:

Claire

Could a greater miracle take place than for us to look through each other's eyes for an instant?......Henry David Thoreau

Mysteria

Member Laureate

since 2001-03-07

Posts 18328
British Columbia, Canada

5 posted 2001-03-18 07:57 PM

Some wonderful advise and insight given in this poem. I think I shall as usual take stock of what I see in my own looking glass. A great reminder to look at ourselves in relation to who we are not what we possess or project ourselves as. Loved it!

Balladeer

Administrator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-06-05

Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA

6 posted 2001-03-18 09:21 PM

Liz, this poem has every ingredient that exists to make a poem truly great...what a magnificent work you have written here...loud applause here

Martie

Moderator

Member Empyrean

since 1999-09-21

Posts 28049
California

7 posted 2001-03-18 09:29 PM

Liz--superbly crafted and thoughtfully written.

Trillium

Member Patricius

since 2001-03-09

Posts 12098
Idaho, USA

8 posted 2001-03-18 10:14 PM

This is wonderful Elizabeth! I can't believe though, that you ever saw anything so frightening in your mirror.

Betty Lou Hebert

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