The Lark Mirror

 

                              

A miroir aux alouettes, or lark mirror, is an object used once, perhaps still in some hinterlands, a device that spins in the winds, studded with tiny reflective surfaces whose glinting light attracts small birds to the hunter. You'll recall the grim translation of the old French song, "Alouette, Alouette" - "Lark, Lark, I shall pluck thee" preparing it for the table. 

More figuratively, more commonly, it is by extension used to express an attractive trap that is not all, or even at all, what it appears to be in all its glittery glory.

Taken with this phrase, which I learned early on in my journey into my adoptive tongue, I pondered it, and pondering it there came to me bits and pieces of a story - sisters, a seaside cottage, storms, poems, and winged creatures to deliver them- and a lark mirror at the heart.

The Mythopoeic Society, which is devoted to Inkling scholarship and literature, has kindly accepted to publish this piece in its yearly "Mythic Circle," summer 2023 

Image: Miroir aux Alouettes, Marque Truche