Human

I stare hard into the mirror,
Seeing the same flaws staring back at me;
Flaws that I get tired of seeing,
Day after day,
Moment after moment,
Every time I look into the cursed mirror.
I sigh in defeat,
Dim the lights,
And hide my flaws in darkness.

Again, I tried to wash the sickness from my skin,
But this was a different kind of sickness.
One that I could neither escape,
Nor deny.
Self-inflicted.
Over and over, I lather my hands in soap.
Rinse, lather.
Rinse again.

To an ordinary eye, my hands are perfectly clean,
But I can still feel the sickness,
The blood,
The contamination.
It all runs together.
I stop,
Shaking,
Slowly backing away from the running water.
If I could, I would run;
But I can't run from myself;
From everything that I am.

Defeated again, I turn off the running water.
It was all futile anyway.
My sins will never be abluted.
I will always be flawed.
I will always be human.