The measuring of ones self in the bathroom mirror
In the early pale gray morning
Does not become easier over time
The weight of actions and estimations
Grow ever greater
Like roots of trees intertwined
Becoming ever closer together
Facing the toothbrush and razor
The white stubble of the beard upon the chin
The plaque upon the once near white teeth
There is knowledge that this is yet another day
Full possibilities
Maybe redemption
Maybe failure
In the tasks that lead to that which one desires
To become
To represent
One day at a time says the addicts sponsor
Yet in truth it remains the same for all whom
Walk a path in conscious direction
Toward some specified or worthy goal
To thine own self be true
Said the aged character in the play
And in the bathroom mirror
This estimation
This evaluation
Is true
We are days and decades and sons and fathers in that mirror
Women we have loved and hurt and men we have killed or maimed
We are not our own gods nor can we ever be
Yet in the early pale gray morning with water running
The steam upon the mirror
We can look up and see through their divine eyes
Gene G. McLaughlin 2015
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