Know Thyself

He awakens to the familiar din of relentless repetition,

no solace found in his dreams of arrant inadequacy.

his sorrow's weight crushing the memory of its origins.

Yet, I watch unnerved as his mind thrashes in the drowning dissonance,

struggling, straining upward to breathe simplicity, calm, truth. 

His logic is nothing but an insulting pessimism, 

history its bitter accomplice.

Hope, his arrogant romantic, 

an armored avian flailing against its vain burden.

Sighing, he rubs his crestfallen mahogany eyes, 

likely coveting my clarity- my deceiving serenity. 

He pushes a hand through dark, deeply-disheveled hair.

Without words I know the constant chaos in his kaleidoscopic mind.

Now in solemn solitude we inspect each-other in unvarnished bigotry. 

Reluctantly we wipe the condensation from the cloudy glass between us. 

- Getting to know yourself is one of the most difficult things for guarded people to do, those walls we put up as protection against others often distort our clarity of self perception. People can live their lives without ever realizing they are only playing a role and that their real self is buried somewhere beneath it. Excavating a frail, neglected self is a difficult process that requires a lot of trust in oneself. Yet, once we realize our own real value, the actions of others won't have the ability to make lasting injuries to our self image. 

~M.R.

It is wisdom to know others;

It is enlightenment to know one's self.

Lao-Tzu