---
title: Elegy for an alternate self
id: elegyforanalternateself
genre: verse

project:
    title: Autocento of the breakfast table
    class: autocento
...

Say there are no words.  Say that we are conjoined \
from birth, or better still, say we are myself.  \
---But I still talk to myself, I build my world \
through language, so if we say there are [no words][] \
this is not enough.  Say we are instead some animal, \
or better yet, [a plant][], or a flagellum motoring \
aimlessly around.  (Say that humans are the only things \
that reason.  Say that we're the [only things that worry][].)

Say that I am separate.  To say there's everything else \
and then there's me is wrong.  Each thing is separate: \
[there is no whole in the world][].  Say this is both good \
and bad, or rather, say there is no good or bad but only \
being, more and more of it always added, none taken out \
though it can be forgotten.  Say that forgetting \
is a function of our remembering.  (Say that humans only \
[worry about separation][].  Say that only humans feel it.)

[no words]: hymnal.html
[a plant]: plant.html
[only things that worry]: movingsideways.html
[there is no whole in the world]: i-wanted-to-tell-you-something.html
[worry about separation]: swansong-alt.html