Kim challenges the toads in the garden

'The Mirror' by William Merritt Chase,

Cincinnati Art Museum,

Wikimedia Commons

it happened yesterday:

I looked in my mirror

and I liked what I saw

I could have said

my hairdresser did it

but that’s only

a half truth—

it was my idea

and I like what I see.

for many years

I lived alone

needing to learn to live
with myself,

by myself,
and for myself,

At the Mirror

by Lovis Corinth

Worcester Art Museum

Wikimedia Commons

but that was before

old age and illness hit me,

when I could look in a mirror
every day

and like what I saw.

old age and illness hit me

together recently,

both of them at once,

and I buckled

under the strain.

the worst of the illness

has left me now,

and I don’t mind if I’m old

because, once again,

I like what I see.

                     Kay Davies, June 29, 2013        

Mrs Jeantaud in the Mirror
Edgar Degas

Wikimedia Commons

Written for Kim Nelson’s Sunday mini-challenge at the Imaginary Garden with Real Toads.
Kim asked us to read the poem Love after Love by Derek Walcott, digest it, create from it, and share it with others here in the garden. “Simple,” she said, and she was right!

Thanks, Kim!