The man who changed my world

I stood at the crossroads…
The road stretched ahead of me,
Unending,
As far as the eye could see.

I stood alone, unafraid,
The foolish courage seemed to stem from within,
From the very fact that I was unperturbed,
No matter how wrong the path I chose was.
No, I couldn’t care less.
I shrugged defiantly…
Every new step, always the wrong foot.

And then I met him.

There he was,
Calm, serene and frightening.
Frightening not because he imposed,
But his eyes raised questions….
Questions I had shunned into the darkest recesses of my mind,
Questions that had been trampled upon by the decadent artifice around me….
Oh that artifice!
It had lured, tugged, drawn me into a whirlpool of never-ending despair,
All the while mocking me with a laugh,
A laugh so light and cheerful it chilled me to the bone.

I looked into those eyes again,
Closer, deeper and with a new sense of despair,
They smiled back at me,
Eyes which were now pools of liquid love,
Love that flooded my heart until I felt I would burst,
Such was my ecstasy.

My soul opened itself to him,
Revealing with naked honesty,
Its hideous scars, its ugly façade, its grotesque bitterness.

He drew me close to him,
And raised a mirror to me,
“This”, he said, “Is how I see you,
“This is what you are to me,
Beautiful.”

I peered into the mirror hesitantly,
Unsure at first and then enchanted,
It reflected faithfully,
Not what I was, but that which I was meant to be,
And my lips closed over a word half-said,
Beautiful.