The Stranger in the Mirror

The Stranger in the Mirror

Poem by Iris Carden

I don't know this woman's face.
but she's in my mirror again
the swelling, rashes and scars
tell the story of her long-term pain.

These hands that are stiff
with joints that won't bend,
are clumsy and swollen
as they grasp at the pen.

Hips and knees that won't work,
a gut that's disturbed,
a brain always fuzzy,
and clumsy with words.

This woman's a stranger,
someone unfamiliar,
But lupus has made her
the one in my mirror.

Even now I still look  
for the face I once knew.
before all this disease
has put me through.