I must
not succeed.
Success is the mind-killer.
Success
is the little-death
that brings total
obliteration. I will face
my success. I will
permit it to pass
over me and through
me. And when it has
gone
past, I will
turn the inner
to see
its path. Where
the success has gone there will be
nothing.
Only I will remain.
Copyright © 2015 by David Tomas Martinez. Originally published in Poem-a-Day on October 21, 2015, by the Academy of American Poets.