Introduction to Existentialism

Kierkegaard considered himself a Knight of Resignation.
If one renunciates pursuit of earthly pleasures, there's no
getting back those joys. Forever they are distanced. I feel
my flesh might splinter from the loneliness of lecture, crack
like a peeling painting and into pieces wither, splitting,
lifted by a winter wind. Whole fragments would snag
on the twigs of a scraggly tree, haggard. Pitiless,
they'll hang like scraps of paper and to girls who run
past they'll be mistaken for cutout hearts. Knights of
resignation are destined to be aliens on earth. They'll dance.
Leap. But waver when they land. Their sad smiles will betray them.