Shards of a good life
(now with fixed formatting)
Ἐν ἀρχῇ ἦν ἡ εἰκών
But we can only see it through a glass (yes, darkly)
And the glass is shattered, its shards
Scattered wide when you first glanced at the whole
Possibly at your birth.
(And if you don’t believe in original sin
Well
Maybe through your parents fucking you up
Or getting infected with death
Or with understanding
Whatever)
Without the shards you’re just an NPC¹
Drifting through, like, a decent life, y’know?
Bearable. As special as the rules allow.
I’m unique, yells the crowd, not quite desperate enough to despair.
The shards sparkle and tempt and terrify
Their boon: Knowledge and power and freedom and strength
(and honour and glory and blessing?)
But they like to cut you deeply when you reach for them
And no mirror comes without a dark side
A shadow reaching out in repellant longing
And what you do now (and now. and now. and now.) forever defines your life.
If it’s hard, it’s because it’s simple.
If it’s hidden, it’s because it’s true.
(or was it the other way around?)
¹ NPC morality, saith Nietzsche