J N Chua - Gnothi seauton

“Know Thyself, ”
urged the lapidary aphorism
inscribed above the portal
of the Apollinarian sanctuary at Delphi.

Minimalist maxim.
Epistemically esoteric.
(Or is it esoterically epistemic?)

Alas, the attainment of
true self-knowledge
seems as illusive as a Chimera,
Olympian in task,
Sisyphian in toil;

an odyssey of self-discovery
that must be navigated through
the Siren calls
of conformity and mediocrity;

a trudge through an eternal labyrinth,
paved by ideals and walled by realities,
in search of golden fleece
tangled up in a Gordian knot;

a contest between the
Muses and the Fates.

It is a quest,
embarked upon by champions
in search of the Pyrrhic spoils
of an interior battle,

spurred on by hope
but reined in by fear:

hope, that they might find
what they seek; fear,
that what they might find
be not what they sought.

J N Chua

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