The Absurdity of First-Person Perception

In which whole fields and cities
Of other persons can fall

Repeatedly, by hundreds,
By thousands, even millions,

While the universe goes on,
Placidly as a cow

In a meadow of sweet grass
On an ordinary day,

But let one bad thing happen,
A trifle, a small stumble

That cracks open your small skull,
Small brain among the billions

On one peaceable planet
Calmly chewing lives as cud,

And that’s the end of it all,
No more universe at all.