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