The Other Side of the Mirror

You walk in the shadows as though you have no other choice.
Alone, terrified, and yet still ignorantly proud,
You will not take a helping hand nor a simple smile
To let you know - you will be just fine.

Inside you know:
There is a world waiting, a world
full of the hope and the warmth you seek so often and yet
Shun from your entire system like a plague.

Why be stubborn?
Why assume this exterior -

A false toughness, without a solid anchor on which
You can latch on your pride.
You do not talk - you only look, and you do as others do,
And still you do not stop and think of
Letting those you mimic in to find the real you.

And when they, who offer so graciously their hands
and hearts to pull you from the dimension
in which you find yourself trapped,
You only smile and walk away.

You live seen and yet untouched
As if there were no other choice.