Disclaimer –

Derek's work has been registered at the U.S. Library of Congress, so it would be a terrible financial idea to plagiarize or use any of the material found on this website for your own purposes. Nevertheless, enjoy the writing!

Inner Self



(2000)

I tried to scrape away the layers of my countenance
To find within what face may lurk, what mask I might discover;
And sure enough I found myself, my fears could I dispense—
But as this problem I did solve, I found I’d caused another.
There was beside my body now a pile of stricken layers
And now the order and the placement I had long forgot;
I tried to piece, I tried to paste, I even fell to prayers,
But after much ado, my scraps were still a jumbled lot.
In vain I threw a meek façade together of supposed me,
Although the details of my composition were obscure.
To call it me would be correct if for simplicity;
But masking imperfection would then make my me impure.
In time I gave it up and did declare what most I dreaded:
That I was trapped in my results; the layers were obsolete.
I was so frantic in my search to seek what lay embedded,
I did not even think my task would wind up incomplete.
Remember as you see extracted layers upon that shelf:
Unearthing makes’t impossible to reconstruct yourself.