[pretyhowtown]

Anybody have any poems or quotes about... um... being yourself, and not allowing the expectations of society to become your own expectations for yourself?



These can be published or not. I just need some encouragement right now.

[gestalt]

"Listen to the fools reproach, tis a kingly title!"

[sleeper]

I think I acquired all of these through this forum:

"Life isn't about finding yourself, it's about creating yourself."
"To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment."
"I feel the greatest gift we can give to anybody is the gift of our honest self."
"It's better to be hated for what you are, than loved for what you're not."
"One's real life is often the life that one does not lead."
"I must create a system or be enslaved by another man's. I will not reason and compare: my business is to create."
"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds."
“Every trial endured and weathered in the right spirit makes a soul nobler and stronger than it was before.”

[gestalt]

Remembered another few lines from the same wonderful Blake poem.

"He whose face giveth no light shall never become a star
Eternity is in love with the productions of time
A fool sees not the same tree as a wise man sees
The hours of folly are measured by the clock, but the hours of wisdom no clock can measure"

[dansvan3]

My signature :)

[Mythographeas]

The song Monkey & Bear by Joanna Newsom.

"Deep in the night
shone a weak and miserly light,
where the monkey shouldered his lamp.
Someone had told him the
bear'd been wandering a fair piece away
from where they were camped.
Someone had told him
the bear had been sneaking away,
to the seaside caverns, to bathe;
and the thought troubled the monkey,
for he was afraid of spelunking
down in those caves.
And also afraid what the
village people would say,
if they saw the bear in that state—
lolling and splashing obscenely—
well it seemed irrational, really,
washing that face;
washing that matted and flea-bit pelt
in some sea-spit-shine—
old kelp dripping with brine.
But monkey just laughed, and he muttered,
"When she comes back, Ursala will be
bursting with pride—
till I jump up!
Saying, 'You've been rolling in muck!'
Saying, 'You smell of garbage and grime!'"

But far out,
far out,
by now,
by now—
far out, by now, Bear ploughed.
Because she would
not drown:

First the outside-legs of the bear
up and fell down, in the water, like
knobby garters.
Then the outside-arms of the bear
fell off, as easy as if sloughed
from boiled tomatoes.
Low'red in a genteel curtsy,
bear shed the mantle of her
diluvian shoulders;
and, with a sigh,
she allowed the burden of belly to drop,
like an apronfull of boulders.

If you could hold up her
threadbare coat to the light,
where it's worn translucent in places,
you'd see spots where,
almost every night of the year,
Bear had been mending,
suspending that baseness.

Now her coat drags through the water,
bagging, with a life's-worth of hunger,
limitless minnows;

in the magnetic embrace,
ballet and glacial,
of bear's insatiable shadow—

Left there!
Left there!
When bear
left bear;
Left there,
Left there,
When bear
stepped clear of bear.

(Sooner or later you'll bury your teeth)"

[AllorNuthin]

I am that I am not a copy
a dancing circus clown
my act is purposefully sloppy
honesty is my jeweled crown

I'd tried to fit as a brick
in that wall of hatred and shame
but I loathed the common tricks
and I was never properly trained

I failed to pass the test
I took last in the desperate race
I felt like I was worth less
I tried to hide my face

I now know why I refused
why I couldn't go with the flow
behaving felt like abuse
the good life was an empty show

I'm proud that I found my own way
success without being cruel
My eye sees a beautiful day
and i no longer feel like the fool #:-)

[rbgj]

I'm curious to see what you guys will come up with.

[chameleon333888]

One of my favorites, this is like an INFP anthem. It's sort of along the lines of what you were looking for, I hope it helps you!

Wild Geese - Mary Oliver



You do not have to be good.

You do not have to walk on your knees

for a hundred miles through the desert repenting.

You only have to let the soft animal of your body

love what it loves.

Tell me about despair, yours, and I will tell you mine.

Meanwhile the world goes on.

Meanwhile the sun and the clear pebbles of the rain

are moving across the landscapes,

over the prairies and the deep trees,

the mountains and the rivers.

Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,

are heading home again.

Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,

the world offers itself to your imagination,

calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting

over and over announcing your place

in the family of things.

[Absurdist]

I would much rather have regrets about not doing what people said, than regretting not doing what my heart led me to and wondering what life had been like if I'd just been myself.

Brittany Renée