Me, Myself, and I
My curtain is a wall,
a masquerade imprint
of my face.
Slathered with glitter
and sequins and color
It is not me.
I am unseen.
It is myself, a wall.
This is what you see,
No more.
No less.
Merely the facade
that you think
is me.
But we are more –
behind the barrier.
And myself hides us.
We don't get along –
We're too polar for that.
A war for myself
behind its back,
behind the face
that hides
me.
I am heartless,
but the compassion in me
fights back.
Roiling emotions.
We deform.
We make beautiful.
Myself.
I am self.
A bitter old man.
Self fights for
I. don't care
what you think.
Feel.
Love.
I kill.
Steal.
Hate.
Anything I want
I will get.
There are no limits.
I am self.
And then,
then, there's me.
I fade.
You take the podium.
Sick of self.
Within me, a dare:
Take all I have–
My rights.
My loves.
Life itself.
– and sacrifice them
to you.
I find
that there are others in this world.
Me.
The potential
to eliminate the I
in self,
to radiate patience,
sacrifice,
a gentle joy.
And all of me
bears,
believes,
hopes,
endures
all – for you.
There is no self in me.
You see,
the love in me,
it's blind.
And now, you see.
You see why
every time anyone looks through my eyes,
I cringe inside.
I am seen for who I am,
yet the other part of me
covets this connection,
this window to me.
Through my eyes,
chink in the chain mail,
solitary portals,
to my soul
in the mask,
that is, myself.
Myself, a wall.
Protects the world
from the criminal inside.
But inside the wall,
they can't get to me:
the wealth within.
Beauty,
Love.
Under lock and key.
You'll never know
me.
Problem is,
can't reconcile myself,
'cause we're at war, I and me,
two natures,
one person
behind the mask,
that is, myself.
But at least the upper hand is,
in grace, endowed to me.
The power of choice,
my gift,
gi'en to set me free.
Which self, I or me
will hereto myself be?
The choice is mine.
I dare you
to look me in the eyes.