Mirror On The Wall
By Narayan Rajan
Truthful to a fault is the mirror on the wall,
Every wrinkle, scar and wart, it shows all.
Could it speak, what might it not tell
About thoughts heard feelings revealed?
The therapist then could learn from the mirror
The patient’s travail, confusion, denial
An artist that does the psyche unveil
A “Picture of Dorian Gray” obverse helping heal.
“You have been behaving strangely recently.”
It was hard to say but had to be said.
The mirror haunted eyes, taut lips revealed.
“I am fine, you just have been stressed out lately.”
“My pulse does temperately keep time
As we sit upon this bench beside the lake.
How tranquil is the surrounding scene!
Yet your hands twitch, eyes sidelong glance.”
“I am fine. Let us walk along the water line.
The water will mirror my face. Your hand in mine
Will stop me doing a Virginia Woolf. Genuine
Is your concern, but really, I am fine.”
The fault lies not in the stars but in ourselves,
Pay attention to the mirror, to honest friends,
Take a hatchet, chop down the tree of excuses
Forgo further denial, be cured of your illness.
Back to Main Page
War, injustice, cruelty, barbarity crowd our world. The latest instances of these are the Russia's war against Ukraine and the Republican bans on abortion and attacks on democracy. The perpetrators of these crimes are truly insane. Doing unto others what one would not like done to oneself is insanity, because the world may turn topsy-turvy tomorrow. They glory in their madness. Their breath is fire, destruction. The poem focuses on mentally ill patients who refuse to acknowledge their illness. It urges them to seek a cure and keep breathing.
Narayan Rajan, or “Raj Rajan” as he prefers to be called was born over seventy years ago in Safdurjang Hospital New Delhi. The birthing surgeon nicked his temple with his scalpel.
Raj was educated at The Lawrence School Sanawar, a residential public school (English usage, means private school), the Indian Institute Technology Kharagpur and the Indian Institute Of Science, Bangalore. He worked for the Indian Satellite Centre, NASA Ames Research Center and for almost forty Bay Area companies mostly as a contractor. His last full-time job was a two-and-a half year stint as an Apple employee.
When Raj was twenty years old he was jilted for the first time. He consoled himself by writing verse and studying classical mechanics. After recovering from a nervous breakdown in 2018, he returned to writing poetry as a means of sharing his experience.