Navel-gazers

Our own private worries loom large, but getting lost in them is a dangerous thing. We suffer, then know pain; but oughtn’t we to keep this knowledge and use it for compassion’s sake?

I salute the farsighted folks!

————

The girl who was a narcissist

hello little sunshine
dab in mirror   take a bow
what are the birdies doing today?

a fine little ditty
curled-up hair   smile now
ask all the lovelies what do you wear

on a day like today?
lightning bulbs   flashing how
they’re making stars in the room tonight

so bright they burst
so bright they boom

they’re making tea-shapes in your gloom

I see the light
I see the light
is blinding you!

————

In the Hall of the Mountain King

In the hall of the mountain king
A lad walks dazed and idling
Woebegone, he twists his ring
He’s lost his true-love girl

Without the rain is pouring down
The streets are flooded straight to town
The jester’s shoes are turning brown
He’s lost his true-love girl

The lad can wander scarcely more
The winds are rapping at the door
A heart is broken evermore
He’s lost his true-love girl

A beggar-woman steps inside
She shakes the rain from hair and hide
Asks a penny, canst thou bide?
He’s lost his true-love girl

The lad, distrait, spares not a cent
His mind upon his sorrows bent
His heart by self-despairing rent
He’s lost his true-love girl

The beggar-woman pleads again
Divert the lad from selfish pain!
But still she supplicates in vain
He’s lost his true-love girl

At this she sheds her beggar’s cloak
Beyond the door an ancient oak
Bends from wind and look! the bloke
He’s found his true-love girl

But, soft, the maid is looking low
“I rather thought that thou wouldst know
To aid a girl in sorry show”
Thus speaks his true-love girl

“Thou lost thyself in inward life
Cared not a whit for others’ strife
The selfish pangs are like a knife”
Plunged in his true-love girl

His true-love girl turns on the spot
Fast as a finger pokes a pot
That’s spilling liquid, boiling hot
The lad, I think he knows his lot
He’s lost his true-love girl