Me, Myself and I

"Knowledge of the self is the mother of all knowledge. So it is incumbent on me to know my self, to know it completely, to know its minutiae, its characteristics, its subtleties, and its very atoms."

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,

To look at myself straight in the eye.

I don't want to stand with the setting sun

And hate myself for the things I've done.

I don't want to hide 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

What kind of man I really am;

I don't want to dress myself in sham.

I want to go with my head erect,

I want to deserve all men's respect

And in this 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 am a bluster and empty show.

I cannot hide myself from me;

I can see what others can never see;

I know what others can never know,

I cannot fool myself, and so

Whatever happens, I want to be

Self-respecting and conscience free.