A letter to my Self-less Ego
Posted by The Platform | Posted in Spirituality | Posted on 12-03-2010
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By Iqbal Chowdhury
A letter to my Self-less Ego
Dear Ego,
In the chambers of Corazon, we drank from the fountains of Zest
You favoured only those liquors sweet, disliking the rest
Scorning my indifference as My Self drank those acrid
Telling My Self to indulge the sweet Senses, whenever they’re arid
I loved you as I loved My Self, effects of the sweetness you made me taste
Little did I know, it was the last this Trinity of mine was ever chaste
Do you remember how our feet danced away in the court of Dionysus?
You said we could dance forever, ‘til we became one, ‘til our joy would never cease
Thereon you became my elixir for Life, guiding me as did Hero for Leander
For you I’d have braved the Seven Seas, and all other waters that meander
In return you trapped me in the nihilism of the Mind, leaving me in a state forlorn
If corruption is the sceptre of Mankind, then surely all Mankind you adorn
You convinced my Soul objective was in attaining social status
But oh how you used me as Your Self-propelling apparatus
All my sinews now rigid, each bit a whole of this Heart so Hardened
Be gone, I beseech you! So that I may be pardoned
Even your silence slowly diminishes all that is left of Life
Peace you promised ephemeral – now just inexorable strife
No concord Within until I am stripped of these remnants of you
No living until you pass, your entire form I must eschew
Too weak to fight, I am resigned to accept the pen is mightier than the sword
And so I write to say please let me Be, as we can no longer live in accord
Bereft, I stare inconsolably at the mirror not knowing who I see
And realise that I do not even know if this is written by You, or if it is Me
RE : A letter to my Self-less Ego
Dear My-self,
Thanks for your letter, but you know very well, you and I have a pact
Of the unwritten form from which no man can detract
We drank of selfsame fountains, thenceforth in one we dwell
Consummating our bitter-sweet mantra, we created an inimitable shell
It seems our attachment has caused you to feel great sorrow
But don’t you see its freedom, where we roam like there’s no tomorrow?
You will never truly live if you want rid of me, for I cannot die
Transcend me perhaps, but so many have failed and still will try
You regret our trysts but please, ask Your Self this one question
Was I not born because you let others build your guise – that gilded bastion?
Once rapt and engrossed, now wanting to give up all that you own
Without abiding what owns you – I, bearer of Hubris’s throne
Adorned with titles, calling Your Self Muslim, and sometimes even British
Neither of these groups did you serve, always fulfilling my next wish
In a decade with more injustice, your legacy was a thirst for fame
When you depart, it will be just a portrait of Me, signed in your name
With your days here now numbered, there is much to regret
A new decade awaits my next victim, yet another target
One more who also forgets to love for their Society
All that they love for me – all the teachings of their Deity
I will leave you to Your Self, in so much as we will never again dine
But I know that you will always be My Self, your actions forever mine
Oh, and you should know that right now I’m feasting on mattake and caviar
Farewell my friend, it seems these Isles were meant to be My Shangri-La.
Iqbal Chowdhury graduated in Economics & Economic History from the London School of Economics, and has subsequently gone on to work as an accountant. His poetic works aren’t influenced by any one person, but he is rather fond of the artistic movement instigated by the 19th century Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.






Interesting site. Very interesting slant on a poem. There’s something quite telling about how the Self just took one sip of the sweet stuff and then was prepared to drown in clear waters to get a little more of the water from the fountains. Loved the ending too!
Can the above poet tell us how an accountant takes himself away from the the reality of his debits and credits to talk about the methaphysical like this ?
Oh and I enjoyed it by the way!
Great…..innovative, telling and poetic….well done!
Nice
Phantastic!
I really liked that- I liked the bit where you said “feet danced in the court of dynosus?” – which is quite a vivid statement. I feel a great urge now to write to my own ego- we have beef