Step Away Oh Gentle Butterfly

Distant as be I, and not of your circle

Nor ever have our footsteps shared soil

Nay, we are as exclusive as night is to day

But away and distant does not excuse

For the plight there I do see your charisma

However damped and unruly tattered

Trodden upon and pressed to the edge

Fractured is my sense of descriptive loyalty

Now my own eyes have surrendered to tears

For nobility is shattered by such sadness

Humanity has shadowed my envisioned visage

And for all I loose the appeals of vindication

Without privilege, yet not without fortitude

My scholarly endeavors do compel me now

Though the right tis not deemed level

But alas, I must make these persuasions

Step away, step away, oh gentle butterfly

Giveth the sight of that which sees truth

Take steps that lead ahead towards salvation

For no cage has been gilded in your favor

Colors are but lacy window dressings

Beneath the shine lies the tarnish of defeat

And the bars you grip are but a figment

Imaginary confines from the egotist voice

And whence you seek in honest wonderment

Free you were, on the currents of precision

And now you postpone with folded wings

Stiffen to the mettlesome strength within

Give moorage to those tenants which absolve

A pathological hedging emerged undetected

Often twisted the verse of the self-absorbed

Actions gathering such adept legerdemain

Shifting trite blame, while bending fame

While grandiose words do spawn and trickle

And the mirrored reflection never dormant

A future arrogant and stage lighting central

While your corner grew dark and insensate

Sycophant holding court in your perception

A solipsist, both tyrannical and quite centric

Relentlessly penetrating those sacred barriers

Through endlessness orations and isolation

Insisted that the bars were for your protection

Every dissention brought fresh objections

Until the yoke grew too heavy and then fallen

Capitulation and the haunted confines within

So smitten with the control of the narcist

Willingly how you wait for more diminishing

Blinded as the cage has neither lock nor door

Step lively and cross the naught ascendancy

Your wings still prevail in great extension

Step away and fly forth into anaphoric renewal

Step away and give testament and advice

Forward you must come with renumeration

Others languish in counterfeit cages of manipulation

And circles have not walls of great height

I have gazed into yours and shared whispers

As once another did sotto unto mine own symphony

Author’s Note

Narcissism has become an epidemic in the modern world. It’s easy to spot those with an elevated sense of self-worth, who regularly manipulate those around them, especially those who they share a relationship with. Their preoccupation with a self-created image of superiority or the need to be recognized as an influencer, fuels a ‘stop at nothing’ to get the recognition they think they deserve. If you see someone under the spell of a narcissist, even if you don’t know them, please say something. Otherwise, that person may be lost in a fog of gaslighting and endless criticism, to feed the selfish needs of the narcissist.

Additional Reading

R.J. Schwartz is an American Poet and Author.

His complete works on The Creative Exiles Website can be found here

The Gypsy Thread is a huge collection of his original work

Ralph also writes on HubPages

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R J Schwartz

I write about everything and sometimes nothing at all.I'm fascinated by old things, rusty things, abandoned places, or anywhere that a secret might be unearthed.I'm passionate about history and many of my pieces are anchored in one concept of time or another.I've always been a writer, dating back to my youth, but the last decade has been a time of growth for me.I'm continually pushing the limitations of vocabulary, syntax, and descriptive phrasing.

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