So as mentioned, the poem was written about a mirror similar to Meg's and specifically something Meg had said. She mentioned how she had watched her mom brush her hair in that mirror and thinks of all the times her mom did just that over many years. Meg's attachment to her mom now extends itself to the objects she surrounded herself with including that mirror and I think this is a normal human thing to do. This reminded me of my own mother's mirror, attached to her dresser opposite the foot of her bed and how as kids we would jump up and down on that bed and see ourselves in that mirror. I recall my grandfather's death in the late 70's and my mother helping me with my suit and my hair in front of that mirror as we prepared to attend his wake and funeral. I think it's even possible one of my sister's got ready for her wedding day in my mother's house and probably saw herself in that mirror.
So I wrote this poem, "In the Mirror" and shared it on Facebook, but even as I re-read it an hour or two later I found it difficult to find the rhythm... and so I recorded myself reading the poem to help people hear it the way I wrote it. Then I opened the post in Facebook and tried to edit it to include the recording, but something went wrong and I lost the entire post including a couple of lovely replies I had received form a couple people who had read it. And the post about a nostalgic melancholy for a thing lost, becomes it's own nostalgic melancholy of a thing lost as I'll never get that back, but I valued those comments as I always value words that anyone is willing to take the time to write in response to anything I've said or done... I never take that stuff lightly... it always matters to me, even the teases and the attempts at putting me in my place (usually by my brother, who by the way has certainly sat upon me on that bed in front of that mirror and farted.)
The title of this post is "Saudade" and is pronounced sort of like Saw-Dach-Ay. It's a Portuguese word that basically defines the emotion I was trying to capture in this poem.
so here it is... my poem, in written and in spoken word form. Enjoy:
In the Mirror
As mother brushed her hair
Daughter bounces on the bed behind her
Looking in the mirror
Her daughter’s smiling eyes remind her
There was a time when she once too
Jumped on her mum’s mattress
While staring in the glass
as it looked back at her
And then a high-school dance
As brother made fart noises to tease her
About the boy who called
He’s standing in the entry uneasy
She brushes her hair Like her mum
But now mum is standing behind her
They stare into each other’s eyes
As they stare in the mirror
Many years go by
Her mum has passed away and she’s grieving
Brother pulls her near
This isn’t a day for his teasing
The mirror catches glimpses
of a family thrust into sadness
As the echo of a reflection
Ghostly watches them too
And then another year
She’s looking like a bride in the mirror
Her niece is on the bed
Unbearably bouncing quite near her
She turns to yell
But the smile in her eyes are a gleaming reminder
She was young too, This is what the young do
As she recalls her own youth
She turns to the mirror
And her thoughts are clear
Cause she’s seen the proof
This mirror has seen the smiles and tears
Of the people we knew
The lives we’ve lived, the ones we’ve loved
And the things we’d do
It captures those moments
Like the echo of the ghost
In a reflection of truth
