Ernest Hyde looks back on how his mind worked in youth and how suffering changed it. At first, his mind was a clean mirror, simply reflecting whatever passed by, like a car speeding through a landscape—glimpses caught and lost. Later, scratches marred that mirror. These wounds let the outside world enter and let his inner self look out; he calls this the birth of the soul in sorrow. He feels that something clear and simple has been lost, but something deeper has been gained: the self becomes connected to the world rather than standing apart from it. The final image of a scratched mirror reflecting no image suggests a quiet, hard-won wisdom born from accepting brokenness. The mood is introspective and melancholic, yet peaceful rather than bitter.
Ernest Hyde — Summary
My mind was a mirror: It saw what it saw, it knew what it knew. In youth my mind was just a mirror In a rapidly flying car, Which catches and loses bits of the landscape. Then in time Great scratches were made on the mirror, Letting the outside world come in, And letting my inner self look out. For this is the birth of the soul in sorrow, A birth with gains and losses. The mind sees the world as a thing apart, And the soul makes the world at one with itself. A mirror scratched reflects no image— And this is the silence of wisdom.