Sunday, February 28, 2021

Narscissus Smiles

Sitting at the water’s edge 

I’m agonizing.

He’s mesmerizing

effortlessly floating at the top.


Peering deep into those eyes:

they’re hypnotizing.

I’m nearly drowning

trying hard to make these voices stop.


Is this love or is this jealousy?

Seeing him makes me desire what I could never be.

I lie to myself, say I’ll stay for a while,

as I pass the endless hours with a stranger’s smile.



Trying hard to get ahead,

the game’s exhausting.

They keep us playing

long enough to learn things can get worse.


Existence is a fatal cut.

There’s no denying:

everyone’s dying. 

No prizes go to those who finish first.


Is this love? such endless agony.

Seeing him I understand what I could never be.

I lie to myself, say I’ll stay for a while,

then pass the hours basking in a stranger’s smile.



I don’t recognize his all-too-familiar face 

nor his unfamiliar smile,

but it’s the first time someone’s looked at me

and made me feel worthwhile.


I don’t need to hear he’ll love me, 

(words don't carry any power).

But I mirror his smile to hide, how inside,

I'm just wilting like a flower.



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Notes:

  • Obsession, fandom and loneliness as the face of narcissism. 
  • A narcissist not as someone who loves himself, but someone who loathes himself so much that he creates a persona he wishes he were, but barely recognizes
  • original Narcissus myth (Ovid): Narcissus sees his reflection  for the first time in the water (not knowing at all that that was him)