Reflections

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This poem by Louis MacNeice originally appeared in the May 1960 edition of The London Magazine, alongside poetry by Robert Graves and a short story by Sylvia Plath.

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The mirror above my fireplace reflects the reflected
Room in my window; I look in the mirror at night
And see two rooms, the first where left is right
And the second, beyond the reflected window, corrected
But there I am standing back to my back. The standard
Lamp comes thrice in my mirror, twice in my window,
The fire in the mirror lies two rooms away through the window,
The fire in the window lies one room away down the terrace,
My actual room stands sandwiched between confections
Of night and lights and glass and in both directions
I can see beyond and through the reflections the street lamps
At home outdoors where my indoors rooms lie stranded,
Where a taxi perhaps will drive in through the bookcase
Whose books are not for reading and past the fire
Which gives no warmth and pull up by my desk
At which I cannot write since I am not lefthanded.

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Louis MacNeice was an Irish poet and playwright. His collections include Autumn Journal and Letters from Iceland which he co-wrote with W. H. Auden.

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