Storyworld: The Magic Mirror

Touching the surface of the glass, I reach the boundary that divides me from me.  That smooth line that remains inflexible, impervious to the palm of my hand, as I press against the reflected image.  I so want to be able to push through, push through and embrace that part of me that is shut off from the world.  The part that’s kept quiet, hidden, bound.  The part that longs to sing out, to step out from behind the veil, to throw off the shackles of self-doubt, inhibition and fear.

Behind the glass I can see the glint in my mirror-mate’s eye; I see her potential… and I look away.  And when I raise my face to her once more, she meets my gaze with a challenge to release her.  And this time, seeing her determination, my reserve begins to crumble.  Our fingers touch through the glass and we lean into one another melding, merging, melting together as mercury.

We step back, separate once more… but not quite.  Something is different.  That glint that once belonged in her eye now belongs in mine.  That potential locked behind the surface of the glass has been released and has lodged in my heart, brazenly radiant.  I am without masks, without limits, without excuses or hindrance.  I can become whatever I dream of.

The mirror reflects a soul which has come into its own – one which has been released from its fate to follow the movements of others, one with the strength to claim its own reflection.  The autonomy, the independence of expression flows through my limbs and softens the lines of a self-enforced repression of the self.  The tension seeps away and the shroud of invisibility is cast off.

I step away from the mirror a different person from the one who stood there only minutes before.  The magic works fast when we really see ourselves.

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This was an imaginative prose poem based on the creative writing exercise that I wrote about in the previous post on The Well of Memory.  If you want to have a go at creating something (could even be a brief as a tweet) based on The Magic Mirror, please do and then tell us about it in a comment.