Internally You

By Cliff Lake

 

Internally You

 

Who is it

That has made you feel so small?

Who is it

That actually commands your attention?

Who is it

That cannot be satisfied?

It’s the voice.

The little voice inside you.

The little voice that says,

“You’re not good enough.”

It isn’t that you have heard it too often,

It’s that it never stops.

It is your companion in constancy,

It is the underscore of your existence.

It is the drumbeat of your uncertainty,

The Derision Chorus to your song.

Placate it with half-understood philosophies

Shouted at a world that does not understand

That you already suspect

That you don’t know what you’re talking about.

The nagging doubt then,

Will have you making repeat,

At all who look your way

In increasing volume,

Preventing you from gaining insight,

So that your apprehension survives,

To giggle in the dark place that you never look at,

That colors your every moment –

That you must not acknowledge,

Because it is then that you will discover

That you haven’t been good enough,

And that it’s always been your own fault,

Because you won’t stop listening to the voice,

Knowing that if you do,

You may find out

That you’re kind of ordinary…

And that isn’t good enough.

Nothing ever is, is it?

Is it?

What a life…

 

Cliff Lake 7/3/2024

Copyright © Clifford Lake 2024

Location: Wichita, KS, USA

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