A scattered reflection blinks at me
In this kaleidoscope I’m gazing
I can’t place any fragment seen
With any word nor phrasing
If I could begin to understand
Its contours or its pleas
I’d hope to spot a single hand
But this image just won’t ease
I tilt the maze to each degree
As dunes and slopes draw near
Waves of time wash over like sea
Where trodden sand grows clear
One footprint in the beaten path
Where loved ones used to walk
Now lonely rocks jut out with wrath
At ships that haunt the dock
Squinting hard I find the ghost
Of my own lips grinning wide
I stagger at it’s pretty host
Who’s swaying side to side
A single blink and she escapes
As a sadistic mirage would
I’m back to shifting colored shapes
Where memories once stood
If I pick up these abandoned shards
Will I cut myself on glass?
If I shuffle my trauma like old cards
What image will amass?
My kaleidoscopic quilt is torn
But can I toss the seams
When in it lives a smile worn
With the glow of younger dreams