"The Mirror"
(11-15-01, 1-7-02)

I looked into a mirror once
To see what I could see
And whay I saw, it vexed my mind,
Was a man looking back at me.
All the while I watched him,
Quite familiar he appeared.
Was he some friend I once had known?
Or a foe that I had feared?
He gestured along with me
He followed my every move.
Was he mocking? Was he blocking?
What did he have to prove?
This enigmatic dance we did
It taught what I should know:
That this man standing in my way
Was truest friend AND fiersest foe.
But as I gazed much deeper in
With those eyes gazing in at me
I realized I was in the midst
Of something more than I could see.
Inside ther was great fear and hope,
Both strength and much weakeness
That plagued the man each day and night,
Always more...never less...
But greater than fear and weaknesses
Stronger than doubt and pain
Was the hope and faith in all that's good
And that he'd be whole again.
In that small moment I realized
His mysterious identity
Was a man I knew and yet did not:
The man I saw was me.