A Poem For Today - The Symbol
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KEN DICKINSON
Feb 1, 2026, 3:31:34 PM (5 days ago) Feb 1
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The Symbol
Once upon a time there were two oval mirrors
hanging face to face
on the walls of a local barbershop
in the capital city of a country
Running the length of a valley
lined with the stubborn molars of mountains.
It's hard to say how the mirrors felt
about all the faces peering into them,
the unshorn, the clean-cut, and the bald,
their only job being to double
whatever stands in front of them,
including the cologned heads of customers.
And when business was slow
the mirrors would see the barbers themselves
glancing in to run a comb quickly through their hair.
Every day except Sunday the mirrors
received the rounded heads
and gave back the news, good or bad.
And the reward for their patience
arrived at night in the empty shop
when they could look down the long
corridors of each other—
one looking at the dead mirrors of the past
the other looking into the unborn mirrors of the future,
which means that the barber shop
must symbolize the present, in case anyone wants to know—
the present with its razors, towels, and chairs,
It's green awning withdrawn,
It's big window and motionless pole,
And the two mirrors who lived repetitively ever after.
Billy Collins
Once upon a time there were two oval mirrors
hanging face to face
on the walls of a local barbershop
in the capital city of a country
Running the length of a valley
lined with the stubborn molars of mountains.
It's hard to say how the mirrors felt
about all the faces peering into them,
the unshorn, the clean-cut, and the bald,
their only job being to double
whatever stands in front of them,
including the cologned heads of customers.
And when business was slow
the mirrors would see the barbers themselves
glancing in to run a comb quickly through their hair.
Every day except Sunday the mirrors
received the rounded heads
and gave back the news, good or bad.
And the reward for their patience
arrived at night in the empty shop
when they could look down the long
corridors of each other—
one looking at the dead mirrors of the past
the other looking into the unborn mirrors of the future,
which means that the barber shop
must symbolize the present, in case anyone wants to know—
the present with its razors, towels, and chairs,
It's green awning withdrawn,
It's big window and motionless pole,
And the two mirrors who lived repetitively ever after.
Billy Collins
Sent from my iPhone
Patricia Rios
Feb 1, 2026, 3:35:52 PM (5 days ago) Feb 1
to Ken Poet
I love this!!!
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