Poem - The Selfie

With my oldest child turning 40 this month, it’s perfectly possible that the reflections that follow, have emerged as a response to this milestone in both our lives. I wonder if you can relate to my experience. 

Are there times when you look at your face in a mirror, in a photograph, or when taking a selfie, and suddenly you catch a glimpse of your younger self? A part of you that you thought had faded away. Do you see a face which is both yours and not yours. A face which is softened by the years that you didn’t feel passing. Do you ever find yourself studying the creases on your skin - the wrinkles which have appeared silently, slowly and without announcement? Do you ever catch a glimpse of the spark that once was, and somehow still is?

In The Selfie I am trying to capture that moment - the one when you really look at yourself, when you simultaneously see who you were and who you are now.



THE SELFIE

My mobile’s at arm’s length,
What do I see?
Whose is that face
Looking at me?

The blue eyes look older,
The smile lines are deep,
Though they sparkle with fun
And the secrets they keep.

There’s laughter still hiding
In corners of time,
And echoes of youth
In each softened line.

I search for the girl
I once used to know,
In the gaze of the woman
That the years came to grow.

And though she seems distant,
Not the same as before,
She lives in the stories
Her mature features store.

I lower my phone
As my lips start to smile 
I was her, I still am…
She was here all the while.

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