if Dorian could speak

standing in front of a mirror
time
presents itself with a click of imagination
stop, shock therapy
when did i lose the outer me to the image
present in my mind,
i am always me, aren't i?

you look at her beauty, force
me to notice your noticing, by this and that...
a movement of your body, closer to hers,
a camera's flash, you take a picture of
someone else, her face like a
finger pointing between, framing
the painting you paint of me

brutal,
i can not be the spirited earth of your
discovery, i am my own last flowering,
you should do well to touch my heart
with care, lest i turn away and never
look back.