Posted by Dinah on November 13, 2007, at 9:04:26
In reply to Do you have a poem that you try to live by?, posted by Michael83 on November 12, 2007, at 20:03:34
My mother used to endlessly quote two poems to me. One of them "I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul" didn't really change my life that much. But the other one fits neatly into my OCD and so has become a part of me.
Myself
I have to live with myself, and so
I want to be fit for myself to know,
I want to be able, as days go by,
Always to look myself straight in the eye;
I don't want to stand, with the setting sun,
And hate myself for things I have done.I don't want to keep on a closet shelf
A lot of secrets about myself,
And fool myself, as I come and go,
Into thinking that nobody else will know
The kind of a man I really am;
I don't want to dress up myself in sham.I want to go out with my head erect,
I want to deserve all men's respect;
But here in the struggle for fame and pelf
I want to be able to like myself.
I don't want to look at myself and know
That I'm bluster and bluff and empty show.I can never hide myself from me;
I see what others may never see;
I know what others may never know,
I never can fool myself, and so,
Whatever happens, I want to be
Self-respecting and conscience free.-Edgar A. Guest
poster:Dinah
thread:794717
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20071026/msgs/794802.html