Stranger In The Mirror

Something’s got a hold of me lately,

A shadow I can’t name or see,

It moves in silence, shifting greatly

The shape of who I used to be.

I wake and wonder where I’ve gone,

My thoughts are fog, my heart is slow,

The days and nights have blurred to one

A drifting tide, a constant flow.

My laughter sounds like someone else’s,

My words are foreign on my tongue,

My dreams, once vivid, now are helpless,

Their hopeful songs remain unsung.

I search for pieces I remember

A favorite shirt, a childhood song,

But even memories dismember

The sense that I no longer belong.

I see a stranger in the mirror,

Their eyes are tired, rimmed with doubt,

The world around me grows no clearer,

My voice inside is fading out.

What is this weight I cannot shake?

This restless ache that haunts my chest?

It’s like a wave I cannot break,

A storm that will not let me rest.

I reach for comfort, find it fleeting,

I call for help, but words fall flat,

The rhythm of my own heart’s beating

Feels foreign

who am I,

if not that?

I miss the self I used to know

The one who smiled without a reason,

Who found the light in every shadow,

Who changed with every passing season.

Now every joy feels just out of reach,

Each day a hill I cannot climb,

I listen for my inner speech

And only hear the passing time.

Yet somewhere deep, a whisper lingers,

A gentle hope I can’t ignore,

It brushes softly past my fingers,

It waits behind a hidden door.

Perhaps I’m not forever lost,

Perhaps this hold will one day loosen,

Perhaps the pain, the grief, the cost

Are seeds of something yet to blossom.

I’ll gather fragments where I find them

A kind word here, a memory there

And slowly, gently, I’ll remind them

That I am worth the love and care.

For even when I feel estranged,

And nothing seems to fit or mend,

I know that I can still be changed,

That darkness always has an end.

So if you see me, lost and hollow,

Know I’m searching for my name,

And though the path is hard to follow,

I’ll find my way back through the flame.

Something’s got a hold of me lately,

But I am more than what it claims

I’ll keep on walking, even bravely,

Until the day I call my name.