Yesteryear's reflection

Yesteryear’s Reflection
By JR Scott for Rasilliant Rhymes.

A lone tear gracefully descends down my brown, prickly cheek.
A second tear forms, vowing to follow its predecessor.
However, a vaguely familiar image catches my attention.
I squint and look closer, certain that what I see could be no more than a mirage.
Perhaps my vexed and perplexed mind is erecting a fictional character.

I move in closer, determined to put my drifting mind at ease.
But as I inch in, my pupils lock in complete contact with a familiar image.
It is not a figment of my imagination.
The sheer innocence takes my breath.
The vulnerability in his eyes paralyze me.
Tears now frozen, I pause in my tracks.

Taking the time to acknowledge that which is before me,
I cautiously place three fingers on the dusty glass.
His hand follows mine—his fully stretched hand doesn’t even compare in size
to just three of my fingers.
He stares at my hand, imploring for guidance, without even uttering a word.

Even further subdued, I look down.
Ashamed.
His presence before me telepathically asks a question that I know I hold the answer to.
Suggesting a season from the past to which I had surely succumbed.
Why couldn’t I protect the young boy on the other side of the mirror.
As desperation oozes out of his eyes, he feigns a smile to reassure me.
However, I am not convinced.
I know his fate just as he does…

Just like before, the moment before the image is ushered away from me,
paralysis grips me.
I yell but my screams go unheard.
I flail my arms to rescue him, but they are stiffened by a deathly grip.

Dejavu.

I realize that on the bridge to manhood, many planks remain missing.
Will those be eternally removed from me?
Or will the answers I’ve longed for be revealed to me in a later season of life.
These areas my mind I dare not tread.
The mystery of things I always wanted to ask but couldn’t.
The recurring nightmare from whence I could never fully escape.
The ingrown heart defect that I’ve always camouflaged.

They all disappeared with Yesteryears’s Reflection.