The Baneful Paradox

Through books 

And the odd counsel, 

I learned from an early age:

That true beauty 

Is not a thing of looks,

Nor fatal success 

Diminished by failures,

That sorrows cannot be eternal,

Nor spates of boredom 

A sign of loneliness,

Yet it is one thing to know, 

And another to live.

My heart and brain 

Are autonomous domains,

Set apart by fathomless breadths.

How hellish it is 

To know what I know, 

Yet still, be ruled by something else.