Inferiority Complex

Helmer Oren Oleson

I am Hamlet without Hamlet.
I am a dance-hall without music.

I am a spool (for who considers a spool?).
I stand out on earth's green lawn like a slabstone.
I am drab as putty-
A brick in a Chinese wall;
A blur, a speck, a mote.
I am less than the square-bearded ones now mummified
Who raised the pyramids
And carved the sphinx.
I am a small person
In a small room
In a small house
In a small town
In a small country
In a small world
In a gigantic Universe.
I am one wool strand in a gray garment's close weave.
I wander about in the Valley of Hope forgotten
Through blackness streaked with gray,
While Time,
Mad and exultant,
Whirls through me like a demon!