The view from the mirror

To hear it read aloud click here: https://youtu.be/0nh959EZAb0

Twist my nose, make a squinty smile

Furrowed brows, fake a silent shout,

In play shock, eyes widened a while.

Lips in, brows up, tongue out.

The bathroom door closed, alone I play the fool

The mirror plays along, now laughing now cool

Staring at those eyes looking back at me - come nearer

Something shifts - I see, now, not me, stranger from the mirror.

Who’s this strange face, should I feel terror?

Am I in the mirror or in between? I wonder.

The face with no name, where did I step out?

Gestalt into the other view- where am I? I doubt.

Saying a word over and over andover andover andover

Under pure sound a world of meanings collapses over!

And with that shift, the world has no name

The mirror extends all around - has no frame.

Disembodied, disengaged

Unlocked from inputs, switched around in the mirror

Meanings disconnected.

Same but different, the view from the mirror.

Seeing with unmoving gaze

Mind silent locked it stays

All forms gone in this haze

Yet I remain, a traveller in the maze

I saw tears of silent rage at a bully, many years ago as a child

At 20 this unchanging I, dove from red cliff into blue waters wild

Where is this ageless I sitting, viewing life moving past on a screen ?

Staring, without seeing, a red flower bloom as in a dream ?

In this switch I lose meaning and find myself in wonder

Have you seen the view from the mirror?

The mirror and I we are one and yet no one.

Comments

Anticipation Moment

Anticipation Moment by Shreefal Mehta 31 Dec 2024 To listen, click here: https://youtube.com/shorts/jeOLFxDFUbc? Can you anticipate without anxiety? Like birds, on winds gentle, ride, wings stretched out, let thoughts glide. Are you eager without expectation? Circling in thermals they slowly rise, let the fragrance of ideas mesmerize Are you excited without hastiness? Hovering, hovering, now swooping, enjoy the scene just now forming. Eager, awaiting, excited, taste the moment. In the eye of the storm, I’m vividly awake; let thoughts circle; ‘tis the ring I take. Only the moment lives with fullness complete. Years months weeks count in days Many hours or minutes, all is just a haze Happy new year as fireworks flash and bells atoll. In each moment is the seed of eons, new and old At the stroke of midnight, the year past and new, lo behold! Hurtling through black space an inch at a moment… As I look down at the earth bel...

Not Every Poem must be finished

Not every poem must be finished © Shreefal Mehta 3 July 2020 Hear it read out loud: https://youtu.be/jwbEDNOh14U Not every poem that starts must be finished Not every dream must be dissected and diminished Some thoughts just offer a rare glimpse into the beauty of light Some birds soar high, not for food, just for freedom of flight. Not every rule is meant to be followed or broken And not every thought must be followed or spoken The fading soft light of a dream often awakens a song, Your looks in the morn give life more meaning than poems long. Not every poem that starts must be finished, Next dawn’s hidden in sunset’s curtains undiminished. The tiny seed hides a tree in full sight of those who would see The tiny atom holds more energy than all the waves in the sea Behind the curled fist, unspoken, unseen muscles flex, Not every life that blinks is forgotten, as the poet reflects.

A Walk In The Autumn Woods

by Shreefal Mehta Oct 2025 Jackets stayed home, boxed along with thoughts of winter. The forest feels open, airy, and somehow lighter After the hot and heavy broad leafy growth of summer. Light-leaved branches invite the sun to pour in as through an open door Now bathing the moss and rust-leaved forest floor, all in shade before. Yellow, orange red splatters covering the brown rustling carpeted floor Each leaf grown on its own high twig; and then fallen, perfectly in place The wind, in which it once swayed, gently carried it down through space. Once high pristine green, from canopy to carpet, still gracing patterns that interlace. Every leaf unfurls its role fully, even as the leaf now lies. Abundant growth now fallen in patterns, to human eyes, delight give. Like the leaf, observed or not, with total trust, in lows or highs, Unknowing greater patterns, yet secure in each moment, fully live. Tiny flowers rise ...

Expressions writings