As she stays with her transformation our heroine encounters a mirror -- will it give her a break from her new state? And who are her friends here?
The Journey turns inward --
Mirror
Our mirror
is a gift
in this strange world
It stands out
In the end I am not really sure why
It is just different
It seems
to still belong to
the one who shared it
Medusa
No one has turned
into stone just yet
But it sticks out
Different --
The mirror always
had something terrifying about it
and I was never quite sure
what
Apart from the fact
that
people seemed to sink
into it
become horrified
"Never had that effect on me"
I shrugged my shoulders --
Passing by
What
were the remnants
that sparkled on its edges?
In better days
the term "creepy"
kept coming up for me
Those remnants
that sparked
and moved
eerily
without motor
without
string
magic they would call that elsewhere
To me they seemed like golden hearts
beating separately
Then together
Even our cook,
Our caretaker,
Our soul maker --
Ralph
my courageous friend,
at the service of the Underworld
He steps into the kitchen
with bravado and wholeness
He handles the huge, steaming coffee maker
with its products of capuccino dreams and froth
with love and diligence
had always made a big
circle around it
to avoid it
at all costs
as if it would transfix him
into stone
Just in case --
But it never did
It just stood there
like
a main attraction piece
like the jewels of the crown
and just
attracted those
that seemed to need
its journey in some way
I stood there now
Feeling my limbs
heavy as lead
heavy as
the thoughts
swirling in my head
pounding
disconnecting me from the rest of myself
I feel entranced
encumbered by life itself
Again now,
Ralph just gave me a warning wave
"Hey, careful of that thing!"
"Say what?"
Really
I need to be careful of the mirror?
"Come on Ralph"
He shrugs
But the mirror
for the first time
called me in
and I watched my own figure
change
The heart beats in the frame were
tapping to their own rhythm
immune to mine
or maybe in sync with mine --
since I could feel nothing
my reflection looked back at me
with these empty eyes
I retreated
into the corners of my being
Ralph stands next to me
"you alright?
You look a little pale there --"
He puts his arm around me
and I feel his strong
scent of coffee and milk
rising in my nostrils
the reflection changed to
an empty space
of stars and galaxies
of all that could become
and ever was
I glanced back at Ralph
he remained
unchanged
untouched it seemed
He mumbled something
Not sure
I even could make out the
words
through an
ever thickening fog
arising
The cloud coming from the mirror
Wrapping around me
the scent of sulphur
rising in my nostrils
I wanted to fall into it
Fall into the mirror and its beat
into that peace of just being
that seemed right there
into the "right" me
the one
that is effortless
that needs no proof
The one that needs no life
added on
no accomplishments
The mirror whispers all that to me
I felt him move away
I nodded
automatically
I knew his own magic was calling him
the scents of lunch fragrances
would soon
fill up
the space
around the mirror
in the hall
and submerge the dining room
into an explosion
of tastes
He headed to the kitchens
So alone
standing there with the mirror
as my companion
I let go into
the vastness of its space
the symphony of the universe
the lights
of rebirth
I felt myself vanish from the hotel
from the realm
of Hades
Yes Hades
The man that brought me here
the man that keeps me here
with a smile on his face
with a friendly demeanor in his stride
To me he feels like shackles
of lead
I fall instead into the heartbeats
constantly moving me away
like the rhythm of the African drum
moving me away
in dance and flow
I let myself go
and find that I am seeing a wide expanse
like galaxies opening their hands
that I can move there
and forget
the state of hell and its net
Then the image vanishes
the image perishes
into a fog
but I am left staring right in
I try to forget
What I have seen
pull myself away from my own frozen stance
Walk away from any soft whispers
From the mirror
Not from its frame
But
from
into its pure center
into my center
The music of the heart beat
at the fireplace
beats away in the distance
It is as if there is an echo here
Within the mirror
the mirror
talking to the frame
and the frame opening
up another dialogue
I am drawn into that rhythm
as it becomes one
merges
with
the fireplace cadence
and the hearts
For now they are distinctly hearts
The shapes on the mirror
the frame
comes alive
with a recurring cycle
that seems familiar
yet foreign
Somehow
in the end
all aligns
And I sway with it
Letting it hold me
and move with me
My breath
moves along
from fogging the mirror
in its own beat
to fogging the galaxies
into painting and pictures
all with their own meanings
all with their own soothing
touch
I watch them change
assemble and reassemble
ceaselessly
The colors move
as I let myself sink further downward
into my own being
into my own rhythm
The pain that had
gripped my body
is letting loose just
a little more
into the dance of colors
The pangs of hardened muscles
and strained holding
constricted molding
all of it
melting away
to that beat
I watch as one star after the next
dives
from one possibility
to the infinite
I watch it in reverse
they circle
they loop
somewhere
my eyes follow
I let go a little more
at every step
I feel a smile in my view
I sense the movement of the pull
out and around
letting
go
of the gripping
My eyes dance in delight
dance to the thoughts crossing the infinite
like the stars
Letting go
into space
And all of a sudden I understand Medusa's gift
Her end to the rage
that had consumed her
the peace she may have felt
that she had
handed over to us
to me really
in form of a gift
a wedding gift
The way to find my own rhythm
even here
finding the space of my own heartbeat
the way inward to my own fearless path
For those who had
deserved her rage however
the lesson was different
the tone
sharp
painful
The pull of karma
was handing out its very own note
lonely and disconnected
holding a hand out to be resurrected
into a new beat
The tone had been set to awaken to
the reality
of their lives
the consequences
of their actions
the scenic invitation
of their own digression
We are in hell after all-
I feel lighter now
peacefully I float
about
thanking Medusa secretly
for her gift of sanity
and I hardly notice
the next batch of
customers
sitting in corners
Ralph is doing the honors
welcoming them one by one
glancing my way
as if afraid that I may
just disappear into that very same
mirror
I watch the next batch
stare at each other
with incomprehension
and I know now that they do not yet understand
why they are here
Find out if she is able to snap out of her new state, and what she encounters next -- is there a way out of her new home?
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