Who Says I Wasn’t Working?

“Ignorance equals
The capacity
For self-deception,”
But then can we not
Enhance the latter

Without increasing
The former? Likewise,
Must a reduction
In our ignorance
Shrink capacity

To deceive ourselves?
They may correlate,
But nonlinearly
And not equally.
They cut fine figures,

Nonetheless, ballroom
Dancers tiptoeing
Lightly through ruin
On a small planet—
Our ignorance and

Our capacity
For self deception—
Whirling through the night
That knows what it knows
And is not deceived.