Know Thyself

I went to the dentist, had my picture made,
every which way but loose, and was left in the end
sitting there, looking at a not-so-becoming
image of me. Who was that monster,
coud I ever really be that? Pictures don't lie
even if they don't tell the truth. It's me.
And inside me something arrogant, something defiant,
something ugly and gruesome still lies. I have a reprieve
from insanity but it's one day at a time
contingent on my spiritual awareness, on my surrender.