One-Way Glass

I face the one-way glass of your eyes

and see myself reflected there.

I smile at that image,

for I believe I am the only thing you see;

that there is nothing hidden

on the other side of that glass

I reach up to touch the glass,

to test its strength,

to push the barrier between us.

Where my fingertips touch

a web of cracks appear,

spreading, and spreading, and spreading,

until the glass is nothing more

than a thousand tiny fragments bound together

by a flimsy hope.

I pull back from that glass,

suddenly fearful of what lay behind it,

but as deep as I am

there is no turning back.

As I gaze at my reflection,

I realize that the person staring back is not me--

a different body, a different face, a different smile,

she is someone else.

And as the truth dawns,

The realization that it was never me reflected in your eyes,

never me that you saw, but always the other,

that flimsy hope breaks.

Shards of glass pierce me;

cutting deep through my skin,

digging their way to my heart.

Through bloodied tears I gaze up,

that barrier of glass gone.

And I see you, the true you,

and I see everything you meant to keep from me,

and I see the light through the mist

of your half-truths and sweet words,

And in the end, I see where I stand

now that the truth is no longer hidden

behind the one-way glass of your eyes.