Sandman

Taking responsibility for my own happiness.

Fantasies of my own traceless disappearance,

an oasis of self-improvement

wander my mind,

and one question follows —

Is ensuring my own happiness selfish?

When it's boiled down to its bones,

selfishness is surely not how one changes the world—

this I know.

But if my impact could increase,

why not try?

My happiness could easily mean someone else’s. It could be the difference between

the presence or absence of a dollar bill in a friend’s coat

which I leave behind for them to find.

The ways in which I speak,

spreading ideas just as the Sandman spreads sand.

To be the happiness in someone else’s day,

to take control of the violent dog that is my emotions

before it runs off and bites someone —

reducing the bad, emphasizing the good.

Putting first my desire to be happy.