Evanescent

she hasn’t looked at her reflection in a long while.

passing glance maybe,

distracted while brushing her teeth.

unAble to look herself in the eye.

nothing like the harsh truth of natural light and a clear mirror to see reality.

no one can pause time.

doesn’t matter how much she ignores the mirror.

treating it as an object she’s vaguely aware of that blends with the walls.

that occasional glimmer of light in the corner of her eye.

it’s difficult to reconcile the lady in the mirror with the girl she used to be.

laugh lines remind her times weren’t always bad.

new, deeper worry lines grow, form, etch their way through her flesh.

pushing the vague memory of youth further.

with the evanescence of a daffodil, she fades.

merely an echo in time.