Mirror

they fear me
because I make them
see

not who I say they are—
but who stares back
when no one's watching

they flinch
at the cracks
they thought were
buried deep

I don't choose this
I don't perform
but even that—
they call an act

I say I’m real.
but what if...
this self was slowly sculpted
by every glance
I caught in glass?

still,
in this half-sleeping world,
someone
has to stay
awake

they call it cruelty
but I know:
the mirror doesn't lie
it just doesn't look away

and truth—
truth stings
before it soothes