You look backward at the mirror,
at your reflection.
In that rectangle of glass is what you have been,
all your achievements and faults,
your history.
You look ahead at the ground,
at your shadow.
Projected in front of you is what you hope to be,
all your expectations and dreams,
stretched out in an image of your elongated figure.
In the center is what you are,
the present.
And your goal is for those three states—
past, present, and future—
to be identical.
Colette Gerstmann is an 8th grader at Saint Ann’s School in Brooklyn, New York. She lives with her parents, sister and dog. She likes animals, art, reading, writing, playing the clarinet, singing, playing tennis, and dancing.
