For Kortzie, Happy Birthday!

Love's Reflection

(Rumplestiltskin to Belle in the Dark Castle)

A reflection in a mirror

Shows only on the surface

What eyes divine.

And all those eyes see

Is a beast, scaled and golden

A monster of shadows and darkness

Come to steal away their children and make deals for their souls.

When I looked in a mirror,

All that my eyes divined

Was a monster, ancient and cold,

With a heart frozen in time,

From missing the one he loved best.

Next I saw the failed spinner, the coward mocked and spit on,

Never to know the grace of his peers

His only triumph of note—his beloved son.

But then you came—a tempestuous beauty

To fill my days and nights with talk

Of books and sundry things,

To bring light back into my gray existence,

And chase away the shadows.

You gave me hope, you made me feel

Like I was more than what my reflection showed.

Your keen wit challenged mine,

Your compassion stirred my own,

Your joy in simple treasures—

A walk, the touch of my hand, a smile

Reminded me of all I'd forgotten,

And that the greatest treasure of all was not spun gold,

But a pure and loving heart.

Your eyes did not divine the beast—

Instead you saw the man beneath,

The flawed imperfect man

And yet you loved him.

The heart knows and the heart loves

And what the heart loves cannot be denied.

My heart knows that I love thee,

And I know again what I did before

That a mirror's reflection sometimes lies.

And in love's reflection I am, once again,

Complete,

As at last my eyes divine the truth-

perfect love makes heroes out of imperfect people.