Looking Glass by R.S. Thomas

 There is a game I play
 with a mirror, approaching
 it when I am not there,
 as though to take by surprise.
 
 the self that is my familiar. It
 is in vain. Like one eternally
 in ambush, fast or slow
 as I may raise my head, it raises
 
 its own, catching me in the act,
 disarming me by acquaintance,
 looking full into my face as often
 as I try looking at it askance.
 
 
 by R. S. Thomas
 from Experimenting with an Amen (1986) 

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