The Monster in the Mirror

I took a walk into the woods to try to find who I am,
Or at least that’s what they say to do, when you’re a lonely man.
And I stumbled on a pool, in the deep, deep, green of earth,
Hidden by the trees, and the shadows of its birth.
And as I crept closer, I heard a whisper say
Somewhere in the distance, “Look inside, today.

“Not inside yourself, for that has steered you all wrong,
But look into this pool of water and you’ll see it come along,
You’ll see yourself, but not the person you’ve ever seen before,
You’ll see yourself as you are. Walk to truth through water’s door.”

I closed my eyes and leaned across the clear, blue water deep,
And opened them as I stretched my gaze to see what lay beneath,
And what was once a clear, blue pool, beautiful to see,
Turned black and red like swirls of blood, buried in the deep.

And in the midst of that reflection, I saw a face within,
A face that looked much like mine, but yet not like mine again.
For I knew it was my own eyes that stared there back at me,
Yet around my eyes was scaly skin where human flesh should be.

Two tiny horns upon my forehead were buried as small stones,
And a tiny flare of flame and smoke from my nostrils rose,
My teeth were sharp and jagged, as if evil they had torn,
And around my neck a shaggy mane as of hair never shorn.

I lifted up a hand to wipe the tears that shook my eyes,
And though a human finger was what was felt to make them dry,
In the pool’s reflection a claw moved across my face,
A claw upon a monster, to receive a monster’s grace.

I lifted up my voice then and cried to see myself,
And my tears stirred up the pool beneath to the deeps of hell,
And one by one they left my face as they would leave a man’s
But when they reached the pool beneath they were thick as desert sand.

And my voice echoed through the trees as a human cry,
But buried there was a dragon’s roar that lifted to the sky,
And my reflection opened wide its mouth and flame came out,
As the tears and anguish from within broke from open mouth.

I tried to feel upon my skin for some rough scale to break,
And find in there the means of shedding this cruel monster’s make,
But my fingernails met nothing but human flesh and skin,
While my reflection clawed and clawed as blood flowed from within.

And then from the woods behind me I heard a gentle growl,
I turned and did not dare look up, for there upon the ground,
A lion’s claw was near my hand, and I looked to the pool again,
And there beside the monster, was a Lion large and grim.

Not as large as the monster, yet he seemed to grow,
Somehow in the pool within, and from the deep below
Came more black and swirls of blood, as his eyes met my own,
And dragon eyes could barely see for the gaze the Lion shone.

“I’ve met you before,” he softly growled, “but not beside this pool,
I’ve shown you myself several times, but you were oft a fool,
You thought you were just a man, as every man before,
But now you see what I have seen, here at this pool’s door.”

“Please sir,” I whimpered, still staring at his claw,
“Do you eat such as I?” “I have eaten all,”
The Lion said, and I could feel his gaze strike into me.
“I have eaten man and girl, King, enslaved, and free.

“And I have eaten dragons, for each a dragon came,
To this pool to see within what they thought would stay the same,
And monsters such as you are, I have torn scale from scale,
And riven the stone-hard flesh, that you think will still prevail.”

“I thought at first that I would hate to die from such a one as you,
But that was when I was a man, and now I see the truth.
Better dead, than to live as such a one as I.”
And I slowly turned to meet his gaze, not in the pool, but high.

And I saw to my utter shock, there in his Lion’s gaze,
A tear stood shining in his eye, more grieved than mine that day,
It slid down the tawny face, and mingled in his fur,
And I saw then his eyes, though fierce, was goodness more.

He took a claw and struck it within my flesh and then,
He tore down straight into my heart, and flowed out the blood within,
And pain and pain felt I, as to the ground I fell,
“Oh Great Lion!” I then cried, “Death will make me well.”

I felt his teeth upon my face, his claws upon my flesh,
I felt the tears that fell like grace, and seared my monster’s flesh,
Then he lifted me up, and in the pool I fell,
Deep, deeper still beneath the wake I thought should be my Hell.

But at the bottom, I saw him there, waiting for me to come.
“Don’t you see?” he said, and the growl from his voice was gone.
“A monster you have always been, yet I have loved you still,
And so a monster I became. I gave to me your Hell.

You looked into that pool and saw the monster true,
And so a monster I became, and gave my blood for you,
But as a Lion I rose again, from this pool’s deep,
So that when you reached the bottom too, my grace would meet your need.

Painful it is to enter the pool, yet you’ll come up a man,
Not the man you thought you were, but one I have borne again.
And with his tongue he licked my wounds, and in his Lion’s mane,
I saw scars more vast and deep than any to my name.

He took me in his teeth again, but gentle was his touch,
And all I could do was lie within the Lion’s jaw and touch
The inside of the fangs I had so feared would tear,
Deep into my human flesh, but flesh it gave me there.

And with strong strokes, we to the surface of the forest’s pool,
Rose at once to light of day. “You are no more a fool.
I have killed the monster that you were born into,
Now look again into that pool and see what I made you.”

I closed my eyes and leaned across the clear, blue water deep,
And opened them as I stretched my gaze to see what lay beneath,
And there within the clear, blue pool, beautiful to see,
I looked within and saw the face the Lion had made for me.