“The Reflection” by Mandy Austin Cook
why do i have to see that now?
the You that you so masterfully hid from me
lurking beneath the fake like layers of lake
muddy under clear – appearing water?
why can’t I still
continue to blindly see
the reflection that i wanted?
it was only wishes shimmered back
like rippling through rivers of light with a pebble
this is what I thought I wanted
but I reach for it,
and it dissipates
into the staleness of the shuddering nothing.
What remains is a void.
I acknowledge the illusion,
I’m just mourning the reflection.