Each moment you ask me for a piece of me

Oh, those aren’t the words you use

But they mean the same thing

And it’s so hard to deny your simple request

So, I don’t

But don’t you see?

Each moment, each piece, means less

So, I cheat

I beg and steal pieces of others around me

And come back and convince you

Basically, it’s the same thing

After all, these that I hand over could be me

But they’re not

Don’t I know it?

Each piece, a pretending, each a lie

So, they’ll fail

Making you do the same thing when I ask

The circle of cannibalism grows

You, me, they, the same thing

Desperately needing to be more and more

But you’re less

When’s it enough?

Each taking a protecting, yet diminishing

So, you fade

If only we’d do the hard work to build me

We’d constantly replenish the pieces

And genuinely be the same thing

Instead of begging or stealing, be eating

And we’d grow

Isn’t that better?

Each of us making, sharing our being

And we grow

_{*this post first appeared at https://medium.com/@brandonboone}