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The Confounding of Narcissus

Andrew Randall

Updated: Jan 22, 2022


Faces that ponder their reflection

mostly find images that are distorted;

seldom do they see beauty or truth.

Something, we know not what,

has trapped their vision,

and it leaves them fragile and weak.


The process that produces this stream of myth

has its genesis in an unrestrained fiction.

For the thwarting of our happiness,

and the lure of our nemesis,

is also our elemental purpose –

to be something, or someone.


It leads to a creature crawling recognition

with each small motion a staged reality.

It finds fulfillment in the inconsequential,

and gives as its reward

the dubious incentive of adoration.


Anyone who feels can be caught

by the power of this spell, and close

their options in the face of persistent failure.

The reactions that lurk within our heart

continually draw us into a labyrinth of images,

the escape from which seems elusive.


We won't see who pronounced this fate

and said that we would be a prisoner.

We don’t want to know who first crushed

hope and drove it to loneliness.

And equally we see no way to freedom

apart from the path to perdition.


As a consequence we trudge about like machines

with a multitude of programmed sensors.

Our negotiation of the maze

starts to resemble the curse of Narcissus.

The sublimated rage from our captured spirits

will ultimately disfigure the face in the spring.

And after answering the very last question,

what will happen then?



















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