Mirror aversion

It's hard, sometimes,
to be grateful to those angels
who kindly come along
to stand between
our carefully erected barriers to truth
and raise the mirror
in which we once again behold
our own emptiness;

hard to see
the pretty wrapping
that surrounds
the unpleasant present
of self-awareness;

hard to remember
that we cannot answer
your "who do you say that I am"
until we come to grips
with our own response
to that eternal question.


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