When you realise
that you have been nobody’s
afternoon idle dream,
that the role of shining knight
was reserved for whoever rode
the biggest horse
or that you cannot imagine
that the world would not be happier
without you in it, that your smile
counted for nothing
on a good day,
then everything else just falls into place,
that you are part of the ninety-nine
percent, even though
you feel alone;
truly and irrevocably in the way
in a room shrouded in people