Anomaly

There is one
Only one
Core distinction
Between man and not-man

Between a sheep, a horse
A hen and cat
And man

And that distinction is not
The capacity to say yes or no
Not the ability
To refuse or accept

Not the instinct
To avoid danger, to procreate
To sustain oneself

Not the behaviour
From birth till death

Not the composition
Of molecules and cells

The distinction, is the power
Anomaly, or pathology
That generates and maintains
Reflection —

As if walking with a mirror
All-encompassing
In all directions

So encompassing
That one no longer sees the mirror
But only himself

Wherever he looks, he stands before him
Between him
And the world, the other

Man glimpses — but not for long —
What it is, like an animal
To be without the mirror

But that state — where he is not —
Cannot be
And is not his

To numb, anaesthetise, forget
Or to break the mirror
Is thanatos, the garden of eden
Enlightenment

And only in the mirror
Is the knowledge
Of birth and death