The Mirror
"Now, are there any questions, please?"
At lecture's end the offer comes;
So, if there's time left for response,
I ask the ones most troublesome.
You never know just what they'll say,
In quilted quiet of the room,
When asked about the source of life;
About its meaning, birth to tomb.
In Greece I asked the question once
And laughter followed, people stirred.
But after seeing in my eyes
Resolve to learn, here's what I heard:
"When as a small child, during war,
One day I found upon the road
A piece of mirror from a wreck--
A German cycle soldiers rode.
"By scratching it upon a stone
I made it round, into a toy.
I learned that I could reflect light
Into dark places lacking joy.
"Into deep holes and crevices,
Where sunshine never lends its smile;
I played a game of spreading light,
Dispersing shadows that defile.
"As I became a man, I grew
To understand that this was not
A child's game but a metaphor
For things in life that none had taught.
"I came to understand that light,
Its truth and knowledge waiting there;
Will only shine, clear shadows' gloom,
If I reflect it t'ward despair.
"A piece of mirror from life's road,
I am a fragment of a whole
Whose true design and shape's unknown,
But one that can light darkened souls.
"Perhaps I change some things some times.
If others feel, and others see,
A light within where none has been;
Then that is what life means to me."
With question answered, quietly
He took his mirror, caught the light.
Upon my face and in my heart
I saw and felt his truth so bright.
(C) 7-31-95
csielert@psd.k12.co.us
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