This Self Is My Friend Now. Poem by RIC BASTASA

at that precise minute
you have become nobody
to me.
i do not ask question
now.
i know how, why, and
it is enough.
To choose the lesser
evil at the start.
And then to discard
what is evil finally.

takes time, i know,
but i did it just the same.

now the tension is over.
nothing snaps. I claim
my own victory and no one
must know it.

i can face you tomorrow.
under the sun, i am ready as
a leaf with its dew.
i may become dry but
i am living.

i am alive, andproud.
this self is my friend now.
an ally to goodness.
a confidante to my fading
woes.