I am who is found within -
My self alone knows who I've been.
No person met can share my blame,
Or for that matter, triumphs claim.
Boastful words, what purpose serve?
On whose scale might I deserve
Distinction over other souls?
Yearning takes too high a toll.
Why lose the self in quest for fame?
How great the sacrifice for gain?
Only in my solitude
Are moments of sweet certitude,
Realizing truth in this -
Each breath I breathe can be in bliss.
Yes is an answer found within -
Open hearts know this has always been.
Uttered now, let new life begin.
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Author Notes
Emily Dickinson, my favorite poet, wrote over 1800 poems, but only a handful were published in her lifetime. One of her most famous and most whimsical poems, poem 260, reflects on the advantages of the anonymous life.
I'm nobody! Who are you?
Are you nobody, too?
There there's a pair of us - don't tell!
They'd banish us, you know.
How dreary to be somebody!
How public, like a frog
To tell your name the livelong day
To an admiring bog.
Despite some mangled interpretations that her declaration of being a nobody showed lack of self esteem or despair over her lack of recognition, most critics now agree that this is an affirmation of Emily's feelings of self worth and lack of need to croak out proclamations of her accomplishments as a frog announces his presence to his fellow creatures in the bog.
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