Ego is a rat on the sinking ship of being.

The memory throws up high and dry
A crowd of twisted things;
A twisted branch upon the beach
Eaten smooth, and polished
As if the world gave up
The secret of its skeleton,
Stiff and white.

— T. S. Eliot, from “Rhapsody on a Windy Night

[prompted by odalisquia’s word suggestion: “nostalgia”]   

(Source: proustitute, via journalofanobody)