Looking Glass of Impossible Size

I’d like to know what the hell’s been going on.
– Clive Wearing

One-way mirror, and we’re on the blind side,
Shopping for years, so it seems,
In an endless game of chess on the checkered floor.
Unable to move, the packaging of everything
Was getting more complex and deterring,
And so were the prices – free dance was climbing
And difficult to negotiate, and door-to-door tailoring
Was also skyrocketing, and you had to provide your own dummy.
A reflection in such a mirror was always dimmer
Partly due to the eyes on the other side absorbing
Some of your light. But what did they do with it?
What did they want with us, anyway?
There were mirrors everywhere from which to spy.
In our cups of tea, for example, teenager’s faces,
And don’t even mention airports – practically built
Of mirrors. Those mirrors above your bed,
Some perverted god behind them with a look
Of concentration. Some say the Great Pyramid
Was polished into a mirror, and it might have
Even burned pharaohs to death, or reignited
The smoldering sun. They tell a joke about it
Down at the glass shop, but that’s another story.
Life has been inverted, like a blackout in fiber optics,
And in the mirror you’re just coming to as if waking.
It’s the first thing you’ve seen in all your life,
And yet you’ve seen nothing at all.