Mirror | rorriM

She’s had enough men to please her
Though they were more cruel than kind
And their love an act of isolation,
A form of pantomime.

She says she has forgotten
The feelings that she shared
At various all-night parties
Among the couples on the stairs,

or among the songs and dancing
She was once open wide,
A girl dressed in denim
With boys dressed in lies.

She’s eating roses on toast with tulip butter,
Praying for her mirror to stay young;
On its no longer gilted surface
This message she has scrawled:

`O somewhere between Heaven and Woolworth’s
I live I love I scold
I keep kingfishers in their cages
And goldfish in their bowls.’

– Brian Patten