Richard Hartwell

Alice went through the looking glass
finding a different her on the other side.

My passages should be so direct
that an other was the only other of me.

Through life’s multi-faceted diamond
I travel, meeting others face to face,

never knowing from which plane which
me will emerge, as I’m just passing through,

It´s not like at the tailor shop, with
three obtusely-angled mirrors,

acutely reflecting multiple copies
of diminishing mes to infinity.

Emerging daily, totally inverted,
on another side of my diamond;

each time we meet, forced to reinvent
another me, or at least to introduce myself.

Each day I must decide through which
segment of my shattered character I shall pass.