Mirror, Mirror

• Lena Tong , Grade 11
• Poetry
• 2019

Plastered tight
shedding reluctant layers of pitiful spite
Dust crawls into my throbbing windpipe
An instrument choking on wasted life
Sturdy frames cracking under nimble fingers
Each breath; it bleeds, cries echo into white
lingering over fragile bones and a built-in smile
My flesh, my sweat, a quake in my rib-cage
My reflection, it glowers, it grows,
until there is space no more.
Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Who is the fairest of them all?
Let me find what I seek, I implore.
Oh, Mirror, Mirror on the wall
Please, before this heart runs empty
On a fruitless search for more.