Across the Fence and into the Mirror – A Reflection on Humanity and Division The poem Mirror by Alana C.
📋 Exam Question
Read the poem below.
Analyse the poem and reflect on its message.
- ‘Mirror’ by Alana C. Burridge, 2022
- A high bright white fence, sharp, pointed
- So white it blinds, drowning me in darkness.
- In the dark I sense the pernicious prowling
- Of a creature who wants me in the night
- to succumb to his call, his rage, his might
- He tries to ensnare me
- Feeding on my fear; billowing in my ignorance.
- But…
- I challenge the night with stubborn determination
- Claw my way out of the darkness
- And as eyes open wide…light
- I look across the fence at your house
- It looks very much like my house
- I see the street on which you live
- House upon house, just like my street
- Neighbours like my neighbours
- The sky over your house the same light blue
- The same wilting trees spotting your lawn
- It has, after all, been dry this year
- On your side
- On my side
- I look across the fence at your children
- They sing, they dance, they laugh around your house
- My children sing, dance and smile around our house
- I look across the fence at your wife
- and see the satisfied mother’s smile
- Warm in the glow of her motherhood
- The same way my wife laughs with our children
- Her warm glow that transcends all malice
- Two mothers, no price on love
- And yet, I am told by the men of rhetoric
- That you are my enemy
- And I suppose…
- Your wife,
- Your children,
- Your street, too
- That your blood is not like my blood
- Or that your colour is not my colour
- That you like apples but I like oranges
- That you eat with fork and knife
- And I with knife and fork
- You blink brown eyes
- I blink blue eyes
- But
- Like cats we lazily stretch in the sunlight in thoughtful repose
- And then I look across the fence and into the mirror
- Your life, my life
- Your dreams, my dreams
- Your thoughts, my thoughts
- Why then do we let the men of rhetoric
- Strutting like proud peacocks, blustering and blaring
- About winning this; righting that
- Threatening this; demanding that
- Erect these fences and feed our fears
- So that we who are so near are so distant
- With the mirror, suddenly shattered,
- Its pointed shards portents of horrors to come
- Unless we shake off the dusty men of rhetoric
- Like old, tired shirts from our backs
- And peer with stubborn determination across the fence
- Then I see you and you see me
Source: Utdanningsdirektoratet
✏️ Model Answer
Across the Fence and into the Mirror – A Reflection on Humanity and Division
The poem Mirror by Alana C. Burridge is a powerful meditation on division, fear, and shared humanity. Through vivid imagery and a reflective narrative, the poem exposes how artificial barriers—both physical and psychological—are built by rhetoric and politics, not by the people themselves. …