Transmute

Through the Looking Glass
A young girl’s conversation with the mirror.
The mirror eyes the girl and asks:
‘Now who in the world are you?’
She beams at the glass,
both hands beside the sink,
then she bounds back in confidence,
a smile lifting up her cheeks.
“I’ve answered the great question
now can you achieve the same?
Tell me,” she raises her chin and flicks her hair.
“Do you remember my old name?”
Recognition dons the mirror eyes
and a question’s then proposed:
‘I taught you many lessons,
are you saying you’re opposed?’
“Back then I might have listened
for Olivia was not present,
but while searching for an answer
I found that lessons tend to lessen.”
When the mirror eyes did not respond
she continued with her speech:
“I wandered for so very long
down many hidden streets.
I searched for myself in the alleyways
but ​me ​I could not reach.”
‘​And now you’re found​’ the mirror says.
She nods ‘round twenty times.
“When you know your destination
the path is easier to find.”
‘If memory serves me right’ ​says it
‘you were never here before.’
“The trouble with memory,” Olivia says
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