The Selfish Self

The Selfish Self 

I am my world – A world apart.  

Apart from me there is nothing.  

The world is mine.  

It arises from the uniqueness of my life.  

My life is the world and the world  

Is how things stand.  

And how things stand is my life –  

And only my life.  

What counts is me.  

I number myself:  

A one wrapped inside a zero.  

I stand alone, a single bulb  

Lighting the whole room,  

Enclosed by walls that are my sphere.   

I have no doors or windows.  

Nothing enters; nothing goes out;  

Nothing that could infiltrate  

Or escape and produce change;  

No accidents or errant causes;  

No sudden leaps or surprises.  

All lies within my scope  

And the scope is my experience –  

Private to my soul.  

There’s no-one else to say otherwise.  

Opaque to every eye,  

I pursue my solitary appetites  

In the isolation of this sacristy,  

This prison, this cell –  

Inside without an outside.