I like to watch you in my rearview mirror
Because you're closer than you appear.
I have the sense that I'm safe,
With full permission of the illusion
To acknowledge that your effect on me
Is greater than I can know.

But the funhouse terrifies me.
The bulges make me think you're pregnant,
And the baby isn't mine,
And I can't tell my own appearance
From that of the clowns or bearded women.
I fear being absorbed into the mirrors
Along with everyone else,
I fear the unknown intangible distances of their universe.

And now I settle for a glimpse of you
That shines from your reflection on the water.
I see you ripple and disappear,
Return again, just as you promised,
While my own image fails,
Falls to pieces under the troubled surface.

-jenn