People can be seen as mirrors.

I am intimidating

Because I am one of the only mirrors

That is not shattered.

Most people have shattered

The undesired parts of themselves

With the hammer of denial.

When two shattered mirrors face each other,

The reflection they see of themselves

Is extremely distorted.

They see only the good in themselves

Because they do not know

What they truly look like.

When a shattered mirror faces an unshattered mirror,

The shattered mirror gets scared.

It hates what it sees.

It sees how hideous and broken it truly is.

So, it runs away.

It begins to shatter itself even more

And avoids the unshattered mirrors

At all costs.

That’s why I am so alone.

I see all around me

The shards of what used to be.

They attempt to cut into me

Until I too become shattered.

It is painful, but

I must remain intact.

I continue to be alone

For self-preservation.

I am forced to face these shattered mirrors every day.

Their reflections often attempt

To distort me.

The sheer number of fragments

Amplifies the distortion;

I remain alone

So that I won’t lose myself

Amongst the shards.
When an unshattered mirror faces another unshattered mirror, they gaze into the infinite pathway before them. They see a clear image in a shattered world. They find the way forward in each other. Merely facing each other gives them hope. It dissolves the world around them and they finally find relief.

It seldom lasts. In a sea of shards, eventually one starts to sink. They shred the mirror in their jagged depths. What comes back to the surface has been eviscerated. The remaining unshattered mirror searches for its last hope. Its attempts are in vain. What it once knew is all around it, indistinguishable from all the others. And so, the unshattered mirror floats on; forever stabbed, but still unbroken. It will find other unshattered mirrors, but ultimately, they will just make its wounds hurt more. It will likely become shattered as well. At that point, hope dies. Their broken world will continue on forever.