The Lies the Mirror Told

Your eyes meet
The hollowed gaze of your reflection
Sunk in cheeks and
Bony hands

When everyone told you
You were beautiful
You claimed their words were
Unbelievable
 

And instead believed
The lies the mirror told
Fought for perfection, only
To find it something you couldn't hold

Regret is now
A constant emotion
And you wonder if
This pain will only worsen

Realizing now,
You've killed yourself
That perfection - the lie
Was on too high a shelf

Beauty wasn't what you wanted
When you looked in the mirror with disdain
But the feeling of being accepted
By the reflection with you name

Words of others meant nothing to you
To you, they were the lies
For who would contradict
The mirror with all-seeing eyes?

The curves you worked so hard for
Are bony, protruding hips
But to you they were perfection
Just like your puckered, dried-out lips

By the time you saw what you'd done to yourself
It was already too late
As you looked upon that perfect shelf
With nothing else but hate

And now, as life grows old
My dear
The lies the mirror told
Are senseless, petty words
With no truth to hold