Reflections in the Mirror

As you look in the mirror
What do you see
Will you have confidence
Or will you try to flee?

I see a figure
Battered and scarred
Lost certainly not
Hope unscathed

Mistake-ladened
A broken landscape
But fresh growth
Forms a new shape

Stubborn cracks
Stout recess
Wavering decisions
A work in progress

In the mirror
That I see
It is a true reflection
Of the inner me

I see myself
Face to face
Nowhere to go
No place to escape

What would you do
If you saw truly
Clearly unmasked
In the mirror fully?

I would assume
Some would cry
Shudder in shock
Then maliciously deny

That plain mirror
Of truthful reflection
Of their inner selves
The reality connection

Some might cover up
Their faces full
With makeup's lie of
That inner beautiful

I stand before this mirror
Not running away
Nor covering up
The truth I seek today

I am stunned
By my weaknesses
These sorrowful woes
That foggy stress

I am astonished
Equally heralding
With blissful delight
Successes worth witnessing

As I look at myself
I am humbled
By what i see
Quite comforted

Though it could be better
Soaring gracefully higher
It could have been worse
Falling desperately lower

The mirror does not fail
The truth it captures
I am human of full stature
Including callous fractures

With this knowledge
Thy self informed
Makes better decisions
Improvement performed

Without this knowledge
Yourself not understanding
Lost in the woods
One is southward heading

As you look in the mirror
What do you see
Will you have confidence
Or will you try to flee?

Whatever it is
I hope you see
The inner you
Is like the inner me

Battered
Yet not broken
Saddened
But on the path golden.