Fractured

It was like looking into the mirror And seeing a stranger's face staring back Clear skin, slender lips, pointed chin Yet something had changed in her eyes It was like someone had forged a steel wall Built to defend from those before And protect what little remained Her stare was commanding As if she knew her power And instead of cowering from it She merely stepped forward And slipped within it like a new skin Fluid and unyielding Becoming a force to be reckoned with If only to prevent her own gaze from turning in For if she caved and dared glimpse within She would break from what would meet her gaze Of the broken promises she had believed in with every ounce of her being Of her lost dreams that had unfolded in her living footsteps Of her hope that had grown into something so steadfast That the very ground upon which she stood trembled when it was destroyed How her heart shattered over and over again With every reminder that it was never meant to be She was scared to glimpse the aftermath of the storm The storm that had swept through her soul The unexpected shock numbing her to the core The realization that the dream she had been walking through had vanished Her forest of inspiration had turned to ash Her love-filled heart turned to stone Her very soul feeling as if something crucial to her being had been misplaced Lost and hidden deep within Where no one might find it again And the stranger staring back in the mirror Was the only way to brave the storm To convince her that things will come to pass once more To make the weight of her broken dreams seem lighter To protect her from the people who could break her again And to provide the stronghold to start to piece together the remains Of a once hopeful, beautiful soul Now fractured into so many fragmented pieces.