274 - 'Who do I know the best? Myself, or you?'

‘Who do I know the best? Myself, or you?’
‘Yourself!’ you answer, with half-concealed smile
That tells me I’ve a cognitive issue
You wouldn’t find in the mind of a child.
‘Why’s that?’ I ask, unwisely, reconciled
To being cause of further merriment,
And am then told, ‘Think about it a while:
We can’t know others to the same extent!’
And then I ask, ‘But how long have you spent
Observing me from this or from that view,
Free from that sycophant mirror mind I’ll
See myself through, in half-light, as descent
Of evening smooths the lines?’ You smile anew,
But now decline to continue the trial.
Tue 5 June 2007