Petty things: poem by Mark Tulin.

To the shallow people

who taught me that losses 
were so valuable:

You deceived me
into believing that I needed
to keep these things
to be happy.

You convinced me
that I’d be lonely
or less of a person
if they were gone.

They were not as important
as it seemed. 
I know this now
as I grow older.

They were just things
I became dependent on,
petty things 
that my ego loved
but had no lasting value.

©️MFT