If the man who sits behind this desk went missing,
Another servant’s ass would fill the seat,
Perhaps the ass of someone better equipped for the office than me.
If my side of the bed was unoccupied,
The woman on the other side would still be able to sleep just fine,
And who knows,
The spring of love may bring better fruit for her afterward.
If I were to be cut from the cast of this great performance,
Certainly an understudy would fill in for me,
And the show, as ever, would go on.
I am eminently replaceable.
The world doesn't need me.
A decade after my death, I would be remembered,
But only on special occasions and rare moments.
Fifty years after my death, a handful of people may have the echo of my name.
A century after my death, will find me not even a footnote on the pages of human history.
The world will have moved on, as well it should.
The world does not need me.
And it's good for me to remember this,
Because the next time I think I have an opinion that supersedes those of other people,
I will recall that the world doesn't need my opinions.
The next time I strive to be more interesting to people than interested in them,
I will remember it is better to receive.
The world does not need me.
When next I find myself caught in the throes of a savior or martyr complex,
As many of us are wont to do,
I will look in the mirror and laugh at myself, remembering …
… The world doesn't need me.
When next I lose sleep for fear about the world's future
And the fact that it doesn’t conform to my wishes,
I will close my eyes reminding myself that my vision is but one version of this world,
And the world doesn't need me.
The world was just fine before I was born,
It's just fine now,
And it will be just fine when I'm a ghost.
The world truly doesn't need me.
This is not baseless self-effacement.
In letting the delusion go,
I free myself to bask in the glow of a smile
Without a monkey on my back.
I may revel in the humor of an excellent joke
Without an untraceable tear to taint the moment.
I can enjoy a movie without looking for holes in the plot
I can openly swim in the splendid waters of friendship
Without judgment to piss in the pool.
I can feel the warmth from the noonday sun
Without a winter storm brewing in my brain.
I can live here,
In the fullness
Of this moment now
With you,
Leaving the past where I leave my dreams
And tomorrow where I put my belief in Santa Claus.
The world doesn’t need me.