Jack Always Feels like Someone is Watching

So we turn it into a game.
We do things for their benefit.

We invent a code name for suicide,
"The Attractive Option,"
and refer to it often.

Emerson said,
For every minute you are angry
you lose sixty seconds of happiness.

But he also said, The purpose of life
is not to be happy.

I say to Jack,
Life makes it impossible
not to waste your life.

Speech is a charade, of course,
but sometimes I think things
for their benefit. An idea
is part of the persona.

I'm interested in the point
where the game crosses over,
where he is laughing
and I am afraid.