This is a lake of mirrors,
Look deep enough into its clear waters,
Past your own gaze
Past your own smile,
Look until the face gazing back at you
Becomes but another passing reflection
Of the outside world.
Look until the two eyes
Fixed on your own
Become but two pebbles at the bottom;
Your smile but another ripple.
And when you have lost the face you know so well,
When it has become
Just another part
Of this lake of mirrors
When you find that
You can no longer find yourself
Or what you once considered yourself
Look still further.
Look until the pebbles
Mix with the sand,
With the weeds
And everything becomes just one color.
No real shapes or forms-
Not things anymore
Just color.
Look until all the colors blend
And become just one color.
A nameless colorless color.
And when you have found this,
And in doing so-
Lost all that you thought you knew before,
Look just a little bit deeper.
All will become clear
Like a limitless mirror
And there you will find a soul.
Perhaps it is the soul of the lake
Or perhaps you will find that it is your soul
Or perhaps they are one and the same.
Perhaps we are all
Just a lake of mirrors
Hiding deep within.
By Kirsten Savitri Bergh
WOODWORK
After she left
This emptiness
Devoured him
But he soon began
To notice
Her face,
Smiling down at him
From the curls in the woodwork.
Her laugh,
Rolling soft
In the rhythms of the rain.
And he felt
Her kiss,
In every falling snowflake
That caressed his cheek
And slid down his face
Like a forgotten tear.
By Kirsten Savitri Bergh