Her Magic Mirror

This girl of fifteen, people said she was ugly. Her home didn’t have a mirror Parents thought she would lose heart seeing her face so ugly. She spent her time with herself playing with the waterlilies in a pond But didn’t venture to go in deeper waters for she didn’t know how to swim. One full moon night the water was calm, she saw the pond turn into a mirror Reflecting her ugly face on her shocked eyes. She decided not to look in water mirror again but make a mirror of her own Which she did polishing a steel plate with stems and flowers of waterlily. The magic mirror showed her her smiling face as beautiful as the flower. She told people her mirror could turn all faces into flowers. People said she was mad. She became sad more than ever, found refuge and delight in her image In the magic mirror, smiling like the waterlily on the water. In summer twilight hours the pond water was rippling hues of the setting sun. When she was plucking the waterlilies the mirror slipped from her hands And as it disappeared in deep water she plunged there on an impulse. She didn’t know when her closed eyes found her in cold depth Lying beside her magic mirror. On her sixteenth birthday people found the pond so long barren Covered with blooming waterlily they said beautiful. September 21, 2017.