Reflections

When did you start having to pretend you liked me

When did your compliments turn from sincere to concealing

Did those sugary lies give you cavities as they passed your teeth

I can feel them stuck to me like sticky sweets  

Pick, pull, scrape, wash

I can’t get them off  

Pick, pull, scrape, wash

The mirror still reflects my flaws  

I wish you had been clear with your expectations of me

I wish I hadn’t been so clear with mine

I wouldn’t have wasted our time had I known

Your praises were being used as a disguise  

I guess sometimes the truth hurts too much

We feel we have no choice but to tell lies  

Pick, pull, scrape, wash

I can’t get them off  

Pick, pull, scrape, wash

The mirror still reflects my flaws  

Strip and shower

Scrub and scour  

Drip, drop, drip, drop

The water slips off…  

But the mirror still reflects my flaws  

I stare at an image that is bruised and scarred

A body that has been stretched and broken

Contours both soft and hard

An echo of a soul that is also marred  

An imperfect body, an imperfect character

Adorned with a smile and bolstered with compassion

In hopes no one will notice  

Maybe I wouldn’t have to grieve your absence now

If you knew from the start this was all a façade

That I portrayed an image of who I wanted to be

Instead of who I actually was  

I guess sometimes the truth hurts too much

We feel we have no choice but to tell lies  

Pick, pull, scrape, wash

I can’t get them off  

Pick, pull, scrape, wash

The mirror still reflects my flaws