not narcissus

we're not monsters though the mirror shows
a face that we don't want to admit is there
commingled essences of love and war and fear
as plain to any viewer as the end of your nose
we deny all we want to say that the rose
outweighs the thorn that in the end we care
what happens to each other that we'd dare
defy our own nature if things came to blows
the devil and the angel both of them lies
what we are is more and less than these
partial images of our longstanding quest
we can't deny what's there before our eyes
the world does not exist our vanity to please
the truth we tell ourselves is merely a jest