Poem: The One Who You Really Just Are

The One Who You Really Just Are

These little ditties here we see

Of radiant times and those dull

To me. I write them here to be

A boon to get me through gloom’s full.

I know their context, or did when

I wrote them so all do make sense,

And some I love, and some I planned

While others are complete nonsense.

That’s how our days go—yes, they do—

Some seemingly so sensible

While others just seem like they go

To realms of nothing memorable.

Hold to those days you can’t quite feel

Because, perhaps, your mind was numb

Or you couldn’t get beneath peals

Of nothingness, your mouth was dumb.

They make the person wholly you

With laughter, joy, tears, and some fears

All rolled into a fount that’s new

Nothing one needs but to be near

The thing that you may not e’en know

But that which makes you who you are

Not who you wish to be but, oh,

The one who you really just are.

February 2024

About This Poem

I don't know what precipitated the writing of this poem, but I like how it presents someone's (mine?) quest for identity. As we age we grow more comfortable in our own skin, accepting that there isn't time to be someone new. Yet we still might not completely know who we are. Self-discovery isn't just a thing of teenagere and young people. While that may be frightening in some ways, for the most part it is, I think, just comforting. My poetry is where I often make self discoveries and this one fully admits that. The photo is a selfie at Niagara Falls, New York. Me out of my element, yet still me. We are who we are, no matter where we are.