Jeff Cornelius Poet Rhyme

Shadowed Reflections

Each time I look into the mirror,
It's a stranger's face I see
A broken man with hollow eyes,
The ghost of who I use to be

I fight to meet his haunted gaze,
But I share the pain he's known
With a stare so dark and empty,
And a heart now formed from stone

Through a youth that all discarded,
Another child they labeled lost
So instead of love and guidance,
My life became the cost

My faith replaced with concrete,
And forgiveness bound by chains
This future filled with darkness,
A life now lived in vain

But remorse for me is futile,
Unforgiven til the grave
My bloodstained hands I raise to God,
For the life I couldn't save

Now 30 years has come and gone,
Still trapped within these walls
With nothing left but life to give,
They've already taken all

When again I try to hold his gaze,
There, now an old man stares at me
With bitter cold and hate filled eyes
This man they made of me

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