Mirror in the Bathroom

When I woke up at night
and couldn’t go back to sleep
I met my eyes there
and they were lost eyes
still brown with a rim of green
and I said to myself, “It’s you.
Yes, it’s you this is happening to.”

I would rather have escaped,
been anyone else I saw on the street
but I had to go through this.
Recovery was slow, as slow 
as treacle falling from a spoon.
The days were much the same.
I passed them in a quiet so disturbing
it made me nervous when I moved.

Sally Warrell