Lin Lane | + Follow Poet |
Free verse | + Fav Poem | Comment | Email | Print |

Mirrors, Unhung

Within prismed images I was captured
along with twilight as it tinted the sky.
We were ensnared during a power struggle 
at the hour when sunlight wrestled the moon.
Neither wanted to vacate the celestial throne.

But I was the one fighting hardest to survive
when beveled tongues along mirrored edges
roared at me in the wilderness of life's jungle.
Voices were raised that sounded vaguely familiar.
The bitterness echoed and surrounded me.
I was blinded by distorted light from all directions.

Hunted like prey in the wilds, 
staying alive proved to be a fractious task.
But fracturing seemed to be my only way out.
I broke down the walls of the reflective maze
and walked over dagger blades of broken shards.
Mirrors that are not hung never pose a threat.

Copyright © Lin Lane | Year Posted 2025

Please Login to post a comment

Craig Cornish Date: 5/24/2025 7:42:00 PM Lin, wish you had entered this in the contest - it would have been among the winners! Login to Reply Craig Cornish Date: 5/25/2025 5:33:00 AM Keep up the fight Lin - as Churchill once said "Never give in"! Lin Lane Date: 5/24/2025 8:46:00 PM Hi Craig. I thought I had entered it. Another slip up. Thank you for letting me know because I thought it was what you might’ve been lookin for. My contest days are over. Too many AI cheats taking control . My butterfly wings are getting mauled by robot talons.

Duke Beaufort Date: 4/27/2025 7:13:00 PM Lin, I'm thinking this is about introspection and the conflicts that can occur inside of us. Sometimes, we are so torn by an array of emotions and may have to make a choice that's difficult and means we can't salvage all of our beliefs. We can have really complicated situations. Your poem makes me think of how my own mind works and how difficult it is to reconcile all things past and present. Smiles!! Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 5/2/2025 3:59:00 PM I'm thinking you're right. Invariably, we get lost when too many things boggle the mind. Thanks, Duke.

Terry Flood Date: 4/26/2025 4:22:00 PM Lin, this needs someone with more insight than I to truly do justice to your words. I get imprisonment, either mental, physical or metaphorical (and I truly apologise for ‘seeing’ a barefoot Bruce Willis traversing broken shards in your final stanza). Love the flow and rhythm and, like a favorite song.., it frankly… sounds good. Terry Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 4/26/2025 4:56:00 PM Hi, Terry. Your sense of humor is equaled by your admittance... humility is a fine character trait. You may make of my lines anything you wish. If it's Bruce Willis running with bloody feet across the mess I made by breaking all those mirrors, good! It might make a good movie script for an upcoming young actor. I'm happy that to you it, 'sounds good' and that's good enough for me ;-)

Sotto Poet Date: 4/26/2025 2:46:00 PM Lin, your poem is outstanding. You explore the battle for identity and survive under both internal and external rules. Clarity and obscurity, light and darkness, and personal liberty in a universe of mirrors and reactions that alter reality are explored. I like words as "prismed pictures," "twilight," "ensnared," and "reflecting maze" as they evoke captivity and bewilderment. Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 4/26/2025 4:52:00 PM Thank you, Lasaad. Mirrored reflections often show us more than we'd like to see, whether they're our own or of those things that can go bump in the night.

Ink Empress Date: 4/26/2025 11:39:00 AM Ah Linnersz, This is absolutely stunning and so powerful and has so much depth and the creative manner youv woven here is just beyond impressive! A very inspiring prompt and your use of words that flow with the prompt as well as natures elements to deliver your thoughts in lines such as "when sunlight wrestled the moon" so impressive! I love that line! Also "staying alive proved to be a fractious task. But fracturing seemed to be my only way out. I broke down the walls of the reflective maze" such a brilliant powerful ending! Absolutely loved reading this! Best wishes for the contest! Sending you light always Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 4/26/2025 12:31:00 PM You are just a basket of goodies that appear with sweet words that are as palatable as rich chocolate. Ink, thank you for being ever so responsive to my writings and always revealing which of them caught your eye or meant something of depth to you.

Tom Cunningham Date: 4/26/2025 11:15:00 AM Quite dark and forboding Lin, light or dark you compose these so well. Hope your weekend is going well. Tom Login to Reply Lin Lane Date: 4/26/2025 12:29:00 PM Thank you very much for these comments, Tom. My weekend is going just fine. I've all the free time to do as I please today and tomorrow. Have yourself a merry little weekend, too!