Poem: "Myself"

As a teenager, I really loved poetry!  (still do!) My dad's mom was also a collector of poetry, and when she died, I "inherited" many copies of her favorite poems written on the backs of store grocery ads, on envelopes, and any piece of paper she could find.  She never wasted anything!  She was such a precious grandmother to me, and she always had time for her grandchildren.  I want to be like that!  I still have that notebook with all of the poems.  This poem is one of my favorites...and I honestly assumed that she had written it herself!  :-) The last half of the poem is different than what she had written on paper....so maybe she did do some of the "writing" after all!  She must have personalized it for a woman, since it was written by a man. 
Let the words of this poem give you resolve to stay on the narrow road, to live a life of integrity, and to never sell yourself short.  God has big plans for you!
Enjoy! 

 

MYSELF

Written by Edgar A. Guest

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 the 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 no one else will ever know

The kind of person 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 [people’s] respect;

But here in the struggle for fame and wealth

I want to be able to like myself.

I don’t want to look at myself and know

I am bluster and bluff and empty show.

I never can 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 Guest (1881 – 1959) worked for more than sixty years at the Detroit Free Press, publishing his first poem at the age of seventeen, then going on to become a reporter and columnist whose work was featured in hundreds of newspapers around the country. Guest is said to have written some 11,000 poems during his lifetime, most of it sentimental, short, upbeat verse. Critics may have occassionally derided his work, but America adored him. He was known as the “People’s Poet,” served as Michigan’s poet laureate, hosted a long-running radio show and TV show, and published more than twenty books.  (Taken from Professions for PEACE blog---found via Google)