Beyond the Looking Glass

Through shards of glass,

I see your face,

Distorted and disfigured.

I reach to touch

Your blemished cheek,

But the cracks cut my finger.

The blood drips down

To smear your face

Where pain of love sears my soul.

Stay near to me; 

Don't part the glass.

I've longed to see your face, 

Yet lies took you 

Away from me, 

Leaving me alone to look-

To search myself 

In the mirror 

Hoping there to find you near.

Why did I say

Unholy words 

That drove you away from me?

I want you back

My love, my friend,

To touch and see your kind face.

Your face slowly

Fades from my view

A powerful apparition.

The pools of blood

Grows silk larger

Seeing through the shards of glass,

Beckoning you

To come to me

From beyond the looking glass.

The subject sees his lost love's face in the broken mirror that reflects the sin which drew them apart. He is bleeding on the glass yearning for her to come back and convincing himself that he sees her image. The image is distorted because he sees her as he wants to see her but in reality sin clouds his view of her and her of him. He calls her back asking for forgiveness for the wrong words that he says. The pool of  blood continues to grow signifying that the chasm separating them is deeper and larger. He creates this beautiful image where sin would no longer separate him from his love. Where no pain or suffering would be known. Only love. He calls this place "beyond the looking glass."

As I was writing this I did not fully understand where I was intending the whole poem to go. But then this concept of sin affecting relationship and the idea of a mirror appeared in my mind. I wanted to express the conflict between the man and his lost love; how he longs for her and yet does not have her. He gave her away essentially because he lied to her. The distorted image mentioned at the beginning is a reflection of what he thinks he is seeing. He is not satisfied with this apparition. He wants the real thing. Even in a Chritian's relationship with God, we see things though an human perspective and do not realize all that we are missing. We don't understand that the view we have of the works is distorted from what God meant I to be and therefore we don't understand what true love is. 

The blood is another interesting factor in the poem. It appears at the beginning and the end. Blood has long been a symbol of life and yet can represent suffering. It can bring life to those who have it and death to lose who loose it. We have God's love offered to us but if we don't accept it, we are dead without it.

So I write all of this to say that I hope as Valentine's Day approaches, we would remember what love really is and how much heartache sin can cause if not dealt with.  God offers something beyond  sin's consequences and heartache. He offers life beyond the looking glass.

 

Yours truly, 

Lucie Inspired