the best of me??

why should you be the best
ahead, the first one, on the top
why all this mad rush
this jostling and pushing
why can't we let things be

why should everything be judged
compared to something
given a value
ranked on a scale
reduced to a statistic
one of a hundred billion

why should anyone try
to decide who's the better
you or me
and then extol the better
and condemn the worse

what's all this 'success' thing
if i am happy
being what i am
being mediocre, if you say
why should you call me names
a coward, a failure
and anyway, who decides
what is mediocre
and what's not

i never asked anyone
for help, to lend me a hand
i never bothered you
why should you be bothered then
why should you see me
in your light

but then, it's human nature
to clamber atop corpses
even if it entails
creating the corpses first

[something i wrote ages ago. a discussion with a friend reminded me of it]