It's a big cartoon map of the world.
Tragedy emblazoned with bright colors.
The patriotic eagle selling you fluff.
Ornaments of suffering.
Divided by thick red lines,
Each nation is reduced into an effigy.
Remember when this waterslide
was a mass grave?
You bow your head
for a moment
of silence.

Then...

get up,
get down,
dig deep!
turn 'round!
Ya can't stop!  
raise ya hands!
get on, y'all
tragedy dance!

This flag, ya!
You know the one.
Hee-ya! (kicks)
Gonna get you!
Alright.

Stopped the car before arrived.
Smeared the paint before it dried.
Closed the book before the ******.
Set the clock, but didn't wind it.
Not unpacked the last few boxes.
Never found the matching socks-es.
Burn the bridges 'fore they're built.
Still the hole you dig is filled.
Lots to do, but nothing finished.
Half a life with nothing in it.
Forget the chicken and the egg.
I'm as big a quitter as there is.

whenever your master
tells you to celebrate,
you have found glory
within the context of
submission

Narcissist, I could not be,
for I don't love the one I see.

A subject greedy for introspection,
delightedly needy for inner-reflection.

Whose deeds or needs will always depend
upon on how they feel right now, or when

the gleaming impulse sends its signals
into the open, gaping, waiting amygdala.

Opportunity, I wait for me.
Myself, exploiting me, for money.
Six billion mouths to feed.
Or a ---thousand. (that was hyperbole)

Do you see how I self-deflected?
When my inner introspec-detective,
Neared too close to the inner-inner-reflective
introspective objective?
****.
I'm a narcissist.

It just wanted to exist,
beyond the desire,
but it's tired now.
It's sighing.
quieter.

"Do it again."
"Stand in the rain."
"Nothing ever changes."
"They always look the same."

You want it to scream,
         "SURVIVE, YOU *******!"
                 like it used to do.
(When it made decisions for you.)

But what wakes you now
is only the resounding
echo.

echo.

They wreck themselves a thousand times
upon the shores of their own making.

Each quest they fraught to find themselves
returned, annihilated.

Embarked upon an odyssey,
to plumb the inner depths.

Adrift upon an endless sea
of monolithic conquest.

An ocean tide within a being
contains an empty void,

That threatens all who venture there
to see themselves destroyed.

A self that's sought may never be,
found when looking for.

Traverse the thought of self-that's-seen,
beyond the narrow corridor.

It's good to have an adversary.
Just make it someone else.
Someone to be better than,
while measuring yourself.

Rise to meet their challenge,
measure-up, and balance-to.
The comparison may reveal
your intrinsic inner value.

But when the numbers fail to balance,
and the weight is never fair,
and no matter what you sacrifice,
they'll never meet you there...

Know you've always walked
along a path of your own glory.
Your struggle is but yours alone,
and only you know the story.

Self-endure your mindful yearning.
Strive relentlessly.
Rigorously self-critique
your deepest ideology.

Come to know your inner-most,
as you tackle loss within.
But remember who you were
before comparing Self to Them.