Mirror, Mirror

UNTIL I found them, the mirror
reflected only me to me.
The large intense eyes, those tiny ears
with no upper rim,
that protruding bottom lip, the square
jaw and pointed chin,
those eyebrows that arch without effort,
provoking envy in girls and women.
Who do I look like? I asked the mirror.

For 33 years, the mirror had no reply.
Now, it reveals the family's teensy ears,
my birth mother's slightly gapped teeth,
the curl of my uncle's hair,
my birth father's egg-shaped head, the
pug of my nephew's nose,
my brother's flaired nostrils, the point of
my cousin's chin,
my grandmother's under bite, the
reddish hue in my sisters' skin.
I see the future there as well.
Still, some features belong to me
alone, but they command
my focus no more.
For the first time in my life,
I see my people in me.

tags: adoption, adoptee, poetry