695 and 696

Tonight I plunged into a cause so great,

you might compare me with the warriors

of any bold adventurous estate

that ever had minstrel boy couriers.

Think of me in the same thought that you do

of those who conquer peaks exceeding space!

Who venture in all climes—in, out, and through

all hazards that the earth might, for them, place.

Indeed, I am as good as any man

that did any heraldic hero’s feat!

I finished my own journey, yes! I can

now say my research essay is complete!

Not even magic came to intervene—

I didn’t even need to drink caffeine!

~~~

If I, perhaps, were less than nothing, and

you still got use from me, I could believe

that what I call “I” is not nothing. And

all of this worthlessness might finally leave.

So you be whatever makes worthless me,

and still use me. Still get a laugh when you

appeal to all the nothing that is me,

at all the nothing that I am all through.

And if that nothing makes you laugh, then I

will finally be something. Then, good grace,

you’ll love me without telling the same lie

I told you now to tell right to my face.

A worthless bit of something is far more

than what I usually take myself for.