To the Girl Who Hates Mirrors

To the girl who hates mirrors,

I am sorry

I am sorry that you count your calories and instead live off of the lies the demons spoon feed you every night as you toss and turn but cannot sleep

That is not sustenance

I am sorry that you cut your perfect body into little pieces to match the little pieces of your heart when the only thing you should be cutting are the ties that bind you to the darkness you wear like a cloak

That is not living

I am sorry that when you go to bed at night and no longer check for the monsters under your bed (because you have long since accepted them in the room and everywhere else), you wish that perhaps you might not wake up in the morning and the pain will finally come to an end.

That is not rest

I am sorry that every beat beat beat of your heart tells you that you are worthless and you are ugly and you will never be loved and when you scream scream scream for its silence no one hears but the pills hidden under your bed (where the monsters used to be)

That is not fair

To the girl who hates mirrors,

Please, take a deep breath with me

Please, breathe in and out and out and in and please please-

listen for just a moment

I wish that I could bestow upon you the gift of hope- that you may see the light that always peaks out at you amidst the darkness you despise and yet cling to

I wish that I could bestow upon you the gift of love- that you may see the reflection that stares back at you so so broken, and that you may love her and love her infinitely

I wish that I could bestow upon you the gift of foresight- that you may see into the days and weeks and months and even years from now and meet the woman you will become (the one with a smile the size of Kansas, the dreams as endless as time itself, and the knowledge that she is a treasure that all the world cannot afford)

To the girl who hates mirrors,

Your body is a work of art, but don't you know that you are so much more than your body?

You are composed of dreams and thoughts and gifts and longings

You are a laugh and a song and a rainbow of colors

You are a soul

Perhaps you will one day mean the world to someone and perhaps you already do but don't you know that you should mean the world to yourself?

Because you do not need their approval to be happy. They are not the secret to joy.

Nothing they say or do, not all the approval in all the earth, will mean the same to you as your own acknowledgment of the way your hair falls just so and the way your eyes sparkle when you're excited and the way you wrinkle your nose when you concentrate, because you are a treasure whether the world wishes to acknowledge it or not.

You are more than the scars you hide behind your sleeves. You are more than the way your hands shake when you've made yourself so so hungry. You are more than the secrets you keep clamped behind your teeth until they burn you.

And you are also more than it takes to overcome those things.

You are more than a statistic, a thing possessing a wild ability continue breathing. You are more than just a survival story.

So start acting like you're alive

To the girl who hates mirrors,

I saw you today in class and at work and sitting on that park bench. I saw you in the store and walking on the sidewalk and sitting alone to eat your lunch. I saw you surrounded by those girls you call your friends and I saw you at the coffee shop and I saw you on stage smiling like you meant it.

And when I got home and I looked in the mirror above my sky blue desk,

I think I saw you in the glass.  

Reviews

[Shawn Jahaffie]

https://allpoetry.com/poem/8498499-Mirror-by-Sylvia-Plath

[Rachel Grace]

I love this! Thanks!