Reflections
I glanced at the bathroom mirror today
and stared way longer than I should've.
There was a strange old man there, staring back,
Much older than the one I once knew.
I did the polite thing and introduced myself.
I told him I wasn’t sure when we visited last,
or how long it had been since we spoke.
He didn’t smile; he just nodded his head
like he’d been waiting for me to notice.
I asked him how his life had been.
“Exhausting in every way,” he said,
and the honesty hit harder
than I expected.
I managed to mumble, “the same,”
because there wasn’t anything else to say.
For a minute we just stood there,
me and the man I was,
or maybe the man I’ve become,
trying to figure out who owed who an apology.
And when I finally backed away,
I wasn’t sure if I’d just met a stranger
or recognized an old friend
I’d been avoiding.
wcd
