Lorna Knowles Blake
Mirror And Window
She is wise beyond her years, She's an old soul,
the elders said, but from the looking glass
a person neither wise nor old gazed back
at her—what mirror can give back a soul?
A pretty child, before too long, a maiden
confirmed in other eyes: a family friend,
that physics teacher, all those lusty boys
and tropics full of hormones, flux & moon.
One solstice night, the mirror framed a bride:
seductive, chaste, ring-taken (yet the street
still smiled at her). Then at harvest time
a double in the mirror doubled: mother/
daughter. That child, too soon a maiden,
is blowing spring into her mother's fall.
Strange calendar: seasons shift and stall;
there is weather in her still, yet the world
looks through her like a window and mirrors
reflect it all: child, maiden, mother, crone.
Misdemeanors
Thievery is exciting.
Audacity, too, we envy,
and Daring, and Wagers.
Furthermore, (with its
implied "tsk, tsk") Risk
of any kind: snooping,
filching coins, sneaking
booze and cigarettes,
illicit affairs, rubber
checks, stacked decks,
bald-faced lies, fingers
crossed behind our back,
light-fingered—
Pocket
the thing. Palm it. Look
over your shoulder.
Run.