“The World is my Idea,” in that
Perspective is our fate;
And when we empathize, it is
A cause to celebrate
For we are all born selfish:
Knowing this can tend to free you;
The eyes we’re born with are the only
Ones we’ll ever see through
But we not stay limited;
It’s there, if we’ve the druthers —
For with imagination, we
Can see the world
Like others
Human history’s there to prove
The ways our spirits ever move:
Outward, where they pick more fights –
Inward, where they claim more rights
We need no classes teaching us
To justify our selfishness.
A thing we know instinctively;
And do, without reluctancy.
We’ll think up reasons later why
That no one else should ever quail,
For what we want is always good
Because we want it. End of tale.
Among a world of narcissists
He stood out from the rest;
The model of unint’rested
And heedless selfishness
But all who came to know him longed
In time, to get away;
As he turned inward evermore
And sank below the fray
The selfless lead so many lives
The selfish lead but one;
As daily their few pleasures shrink
Until they’re left with none
The energy we give, somehow,
Is what we come to get:
But we give nothing if we think
Each other is a threat
The scarcity of empathy
Pervades this age and space:
Although we see clown substitutes
Dressed up to take its place
And there he was, the model of
Impassiveness towards others;
No women are his sisters and
No men are seen as brothers
He’s in the world, he’s from the world
And free from sympathy:
He’s everything that’s going wrong
And our
Facsimile
