Tarnished Mirrors

The fairies were just strangers
After all. Unfamiliar
Folks always look suspicious,

And if they’re common enough
In open-air encounters,
At a distance, in markets,

But never socialized with,
Their costumes, speech, and home life
Remaining mysterious,

They’re bound to be magical
Or underworld types, edging
Close to inhuman, no good,

In any case no telling.
Honestly, the whole species
Of humans is haunted, mad,

Prone to imagining things,
Seeing each other double,
And others are dangerous,

Often, that’s true, but it’s not
Merely wariness spooks you.
You barely can see yourselves

As fully ensouled beings,
And any slight difference
Hints at uncanny to you.