How do I save myself from me,
An enemy within?
The elf in myself will always be,
So where do I begin?

With sound and sure ambition,
Good intention and the time.
Plans might never reach fruition,
For its skill is quite sublime.

Distraction is its special skill,
Almost anything will do.
With flames of thought, my mind will fill,
To melt attention's glue.

It can justify with lame excuse,
A day spent doing little.
And with plentiful a tenable ruse,
My conscience wins acquittal.

Tomorrow is its favourite word,
'Just enjoy today instead'.
A thousand times its voice I've heard,
But still I'm being misled.

With useless tasks I squander hours,
Ungainfully employed.
But the taste of guilt my thought soon sours,
When by my elf no longer buoyed.

For it, the battle almost won,
I know I'm near defeat.
Its game is now no longer fun,
From here it will retreat.

It's then I realise the waste,
What I could and should have done.
I can't help then but feel disgraced,
By a feud I should have won.

And so once more I feel inspired,
As the cycle starts again.
Though of feeling thus, I'm getting tired,
So it's time to end elf's reign.

Now of my elf, so well aware,
Future victory will be mine.
For even though its ever there,
All advice I’ll now decline.