And then one day
you looked at yourself
in the mirror and realized
your nose is too narrow and your eyes
too close together
and your mouth is so far
from smiling
and you turned away.

And then one day you looked
at your heart and saw
how heavy it was with deceit
and how tired
and how sick and shriveled
it had become and how it had stopped
beating for anyone
except you, even though
only others were keeping it
alive
and you turned away.

And then
you looked at yourself
and saw how weak you are
and searched
for the resilience and optimism
that used to define you-
You couldn't find them.
And you tried to turn away but you couldn't
not from yourself.

And so you apologized
to those keeping your selfish heart
beating
and held the heat of your hatred
to burn yourself.