The Anxiety of Interpretation

I will stray, I will say ridiculous things
And be laughed at, just as now I am laughing.

I will speak in order to impress,
But I will not be impressed by my speech:

I mean though they will impress me,
My words will not impress themselves upon me:
I am condemned to misunderstand them.

Why will I try to say what I cannot say?

Because I will want myself to be able to say it
And others to know that I am the one who can say it,
While they will know, on the contrary,
That I cannot say it because I say it,

And conclude that I have nothing to say
And laugh at me, because unlike me they will know
That I am not who I take myself to be.