and forehead, both as soft as tennis ball fluff,
while she gazed into a looking glass heirloom.
Cautiously, her mother’s face and niece’s profile
emerged from polished metal shadows
yet Danielle kept intimate awakenings to herself
and avoided verbal comparisons that other
people might pretentiously identify and critique
as literary clichés rather than personal epiphanies.
Harkening back to drawing rooms and deathbed
mirrors that capture souls most progeny appreciate,
a mother’s reflection gave Danielle enduring counsel.