The Broken Mirror

My life is almost over; that's a fact

Statistically derived but simply true;

I look into the mirror, but it's cracked

And so reflects two, three, or more, that lack

Cohesion.  Which one's goal shall I pursue—

My life is almost over; that's a fact—

In time remaining?  Luggage largely packed,

Past boxed and crated, little left to do,

I look into the mirror, but it's cracked

And won't be fixed and always did refract

The one before it into at least two.

My life is almost over; that's a fact,

But life cannot be lived in the abstract

And begs for certainties that it once knew:

I look into the mirror, but it's cracked;

I look away in search of the exact;

Nights melt the shadow shrinking from my view;

I look into the mirror, but it's cracked.

My life is almost over; that's my fact.

David Berman

© David Berman.  Reprinted by permission of the author.