From the beginning you see

your focus commandeered

by his banter about anxiety and money

and the fools they are for not loving you.

You are diverted

from yourself for so long

in the end

you're the partner of a sum,

the two of you, a pair.

On the other hand you're not alone,

no small consolation

in a time following the millennium --

only a moment into the future --

when he either will or won't be a success,

not quite, but almost

self-absorbed, either way

assured of status each of you

will come to collect.