*TVD Damon Salvatore voice* Previously on the Folklore Chronicles… Just kidding. But really, check out my last post for “my tears ricochet” here.

Looking Through the Glass

When the lights go out and the luster fades
I’m still here, swaying to the music that’s no longer
playing. I shined so bright for you but you left me
behind. No matter. I don’t need the glitter.
You may have looked away, but I’m not gone.
I don’t blink out of existence just because you’re not
paying attention. Even though the disco ball stopped
spinning just like the DJ, I’m still turning, like the Earth
on its axis. The world doesn’t stop rotating
just because you forgot it did. When the light is
extinguished, everything is not gone. So long
as the mirror keeps reflecting and refracting
I’ll see every version of myself tonight and always.

The song “mirrorball” made me think of a person dancing all alone in the middle of an empty dance floor, so I wanted to convey that. It’s a sense of being alone without being lonely. Think Elphaba in that dance scene at the Ozdust Ballroom in Wicked. It’s an act of defiance.

But instead of swaying while surrounded by a gawking crowd, the persona in this poem has continued dancing long after the room has emptied. I imagine even the DJ has gone, and the music playing is just a playlist running on a loop.

Swift’s “mirrorball” tells the story of someone trying everything to garner attention and keep people entertained. It’s a tale of a chronic people pleaser who wants to make everyone happy at the expense of their personality and own happiness.

But I decided to go in the opposite direction. I wanted to take this concept of refraction as the act of absorbing and reflecting, rather than mimicking or becoming a copy. The mirror becomes part of the persona’s evolution, taking every version of themselves along for the journey without letting the past weigh them down.

The persona in this poem says, “I shined so bright for you but you left me/behind.” This is their response to abandonment: keep dancing and keep going. Life moved on long before their union and will continue long after their end.

Thanks for following along! Comment and let me know what you think.