Day 52: You

 Poetry speaks to each one of us individually. It shows us how we belong to the world. How everything is a part of us. 

Here's a poem a little more upfront than some on this aspect. Sometimes we need a direct inspirational pep-talk like this one to take heed of ourselves and the importance of our existence - after all, 'the earth has squeezed you in, found you space; any loss of face you feel is solely yours.' What a way to put it! But exactly right of course.

You - Dennis O'Driscoll

Be yourself: show your flyblown eyes

to the world, give no cause for concern,

wash the paunchy body whose means you

live within, suffer the illnesses

that are your prerogative alone - 

the prognosis refers to nobody but you;

you it is who gets up every morning

in your skin, you who chews your dinner

with your mercury-filled teeth, gaining

garlic breath or weight, you dreading,

you hoping, you regretting, you interloping.

The earth has squeezed you in, found you space;

any loss of face you feel is solely yours - 

you with the same old daily moods, debts,

intuitions, food fads, pet hates, Achilles' heels. 

You carry on as best you can the task of being,

whole-time, you; you in wake and you in dream,

at all hours, weekly, monthly, yearly, life,

full of yourself as a tallow candle is of fat,

wallowing in self-denial, self-esteem.