I dreamt I found that famous mirror, peered within, and asked
Strange words that echoed Snow White’s fearsome Queen
But later, all my self-exalting queries were at last
All answered in a different sort of glass

And so, I questioned boldly in my dream:

“Mirror Mirror on the wall
Who’s the fairest ever seen?
Who’s the end-all prototype, the
Face about whom folks will write in reams?”

“Who’s more lovely than a swan of
White, or Sunset in the West?
Who’s the greatest Paragon of
Light and truth and love and all the rest?”

Vain conceit brought forth this screed
Then I found a humbler mirror
Leatherbound, its leaves relieved this
Victim of a spirit growing drearer

Sage and saint therein reflect
Heights of love; man’s deepest worth
Pages inked with red connect one’s
Eyes to heaven’s Mirror framed of earth

Mirror of the Father’s care
Fairer words were never spoken
Mirror of man’s calling, when He
Gives His very Self in Bread that’s broken

Mirror marched up skullish mount
Fount of healing; cracked and scorned
Mirror tarnished, on a beam
Gleaming love through hatred humbly borne

Mirror shattered; hope betrayed?
Shards of splendor in a tomb
Soon exhumed; the glass remade! The
Grave, thereby transfigured since, to womb

Be meek my soul; look deep inside
That Mirror, see! Reflect His rays!
Direct those lost in dark of pride
Toward the Humble Star Who shines the way

Who moonlights, too, as Path and Door… (1)

To where He’s Sun, those radiant shores of light and song-soaked praise (2)

***

(1) John’s Gospel

(2) Revelation