SELF-PORTRAIT

 

 

Telling It True

You think you know me
better than anyone else
Like it was a contest
this pinning me live
to the wall like a butterfly
a single specimen
Yet you know only the one
I choose to be with you
The only one of me that is able
to be with you
I tell you there are others
inside this one of me
Others you never see
Some of whom
do not even like you
Some to whom you are
the enemy
Some who scorn you
after we have spoken
contradicting the words
that came from my mouth
From the mouth of the one
you say you know
Sometimes after our conversations
loneliness descends upon me
weighing heavy looming large
of not being recognized
Of not being known by anyone
because I am so many
Perhaps all humans
suffer in this way
from a relentless inescapable solitude
that we all must learn to bear
I can only speak for my selves
for those who live inside me
Those whom you
do not even begin
to know.

c.marleneazoulai2012