qwerticious

Altruism

 What if we got outside ourselves and there
 really was an outside out there, not just
 our insides turned inside out? What if there
 really were a you beyond me, not just
 the waves off my own fire, like those waves off
 the backyard grill you can see the next yard through,
 though not well—just enough to know that off
 to the right belongs to someone else, not you.

 What if, when we said I love you, there were
 a you to love as there is a yard beyond
 to walk past the grill and get to? To endure
 the endless walk through the self, knowing through a bond
 that has no basis (for ourselves are all we know)
 is altruism: not giving, but coming to know
 someone is there through the wavy vision
 of the self’s heat, love become a decision.

- Molly Peacock
(1947 - )

via LoPo