Primordial 

The figure asks itself 

while looking in the mirror: 

What is it I fear most?

No other source to study 

than the inner workings of the mind. 

Sensing another’s fear 

through intimate, authentic understanding 

provides but shallow insight - 

too weak to nurture the same dread in the self. 

Instead, the shadow,

lurking in the crescents of one's thoughts, 

forms not from others’ pain, 

but from its own. 

All we hear from others -

faint impressions,

deepened solely by our own walk down its path. 

There fear begins -

piling onto all we carry

What we dread, 

leaves traces in the body, 

wounds buried deep enough 

to silence dreadful screams.

An echo heard in paralleled darkness - 

when one is at their lowest, 

alone and unprotected from its sting. 

Will this fear become a form?

Gain shape and see its own reflection? 

Controlling all the body’s motions, 

awakening the wounds in those nearby.

Now seeing all,

the source and reason for all horror,

the endless cycle knows its truth,

looking past the mirror's dark abyss.