Mirror

“And we who look on, very often, almost always, we can be looking without seeing. Everything seems natural to us, because we are used to watching the same things in the same way. However, it is sometimes enough to change the masks within a particular ritual for its monstrosity to become apparent” (Boal, 201).

I look at the mirror and I see the same face, day after day
I walk up and down the street
The same people doing the same thing
As I lay in my bed, I hear loud music, the couple down the hall fighting and fire sirens
Blocking all sound I quickly fall asleep
I’m hearing words without listening to what they mean
I’m looking at your face without seeing what emotions lie beneath
I don’t really know who you are, nor what you aspire to be
All you are is another face walking down the street
I’d like to unmask you and see
Are you human, aren’t you human just like me?
You’ve got problems, I’ve heard
I was just never listening.
Is your life just as scary, I wonder what it’d be like if I were you and you were me
We’d change places, and may be I’d see I’m scarier than the mirror perceives me to be

I look in the mirror, day after day, but am I really looking at the person I should be