{"id":173,"date":"2026-04-07T22:19:33","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T22:19:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/?page_id=173"},"modified":"2026-04-13T02:48:01","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T02:48:01","slug":"pain-of-my-reflection","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/poetry\/pain-of-my-reflection\/","title":{"rendered":"Pain of my Reflection"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;font-size: 14pt;color: #003366\">Morgan Thomas<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">In the mirrors gaze,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">A reflection of whispers, both gentle and bold.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">I search for the beauty that others proclaim ,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Yet shadows of my doubt whisper my name .<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Skin a canvas, painted with time,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Each mark and each curve, a rhythm, a rhyme.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">But the voices around me , they echo and tease,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Claiming perfection is found in the ease.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">I scroll through the images, bright and so sleek,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Wondering why my heart feels so weak.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">\u201cIs beauty a number?\u201d I ponder and sigh,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">As I battle the thoughts that refuse to comply.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">Some days I wear confidence like a crown,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">But it slips through my fingers, I feel it weigh down.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">The scale tells a story, but it\u2019s one I can\u2019t trust,<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: 'book antiqua', palatino, serif;color: #666699\">For the worth of my spirit is more than just dust.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Morgan Thomas In the mirrors gaze, A reflection of whispers, both gentle and bold. I search for the beauty that others proclaim , Yet shadows of my doubt whisper my name . &nbsp; Skin a canvas, painted with time, Each mark and each curve, a rhythm, a rhyme. But the voices around me , they&hellip; <\/p>\n<p class=\"toivo-read-more\"><a href=\"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/poetry\/pain-of-my-reflection\/\" class=\"more-link\">Read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Pain of my Reflection<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":0,"parent":21,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-173","page","type-page","status-publish","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=173"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":175,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/173\/revisions\/175"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/21"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/euphemism.illinoisstate.edu\/21-2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}