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.

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