Poem – I AM my ONLY Me!

I AM my only ME.

By Stephen Cocconi  © 2007, Revised 2019©

Preface: When I think of the state referred to as individuality, my thoughts turn to what qualities, responsibilities, realities, and conditions are intertwined within it. This poem is a summation of those thoughts. Remember, the “I” mentioned in this poem is you speaking to you, just as much as it is me acknowledging me. We are all  subject to the same conditions of Self.

I am the only me I have.

My life is the only one granted me.

Within myself is the only place that I have ever verified truth or falsehood.

My body is the only one that I shall ever get, and I know I abuse it sometimes.

I am the only me I know.

In my thoughts contain the dialogues that explain myself to me. Like it or not.

My experience will always influence what I accept, believe, or judge. I try to know what they are and when they are happening. I often fail.

The voice that is in my head has been there since the beginning. But now, just with a better vocabulary.

I am the only me I call by this name.

Whatever my identity, I have accepted a set of sounds to describe me. It vibrates, creates like or dislike in me or others. But it only refers to me.

For as long as I walk the Earth, I shall respond to my name: in honor, defense, recognition, it will not matter, I will respond to it.

It is not what somebody else calls me, it is what I answer to that identifies me.

I am the only me that can speak of my experience.

The facts of my life are the events that my being, body, and thoughts have encountered. The collision of outer with inner can only be reported from my lips, with my words.

When someone else might speak to me, or on behalf of me, or about me, they are stating their opinion and interpretation of me. That is not about me, it is about them. When I forget this, I lose me into a crevasse of deception that I chose instead of my reality.

When I speak of my experience, I have decided what that experience was for me. I can change it.

I am the only me that can nourish me.

When I hunger, only I can seek an agent to provide me sustenance.

Food, thoughts, comforts, pleasures, health of whatever kind, may come from a number of places But it is me who receives it, consumes it, digests it, and converts it to energy.

 My heart may yearn, but ultimately, only I can feel what it needs to sustain it. My mind may chafe with boredom, but only I can find it things of interest to feed it and give it something to chew upon and digest.

I am the only me that can do anything for me or anyone else.

If I believe I have power, then I will act in ways that are powerful. If I believe that I am powerless, I may not act at all.

It is my choice who I include and exclude in my life. I play god when I do this. I do not do this lightly; but with as much awareness, courage and wisdom I can muster.

My acts toward you are still propelled by motives, objectives, agendas, or intentions I HAVE for you. It is still about me. Whether we “owe” each other is a determination that derives from the principles I love, or the consequences I fear.

I am the only me who can forgive me.

Whatever transgression against you that I might apologize for, some part of me must accept, and then relent in, my self-criticism.

My emotions can project or empathize with the joys or hardships that you have suffered. Yet, I can only match my experience against yours, not take yours from you.

My body can hurt from the pain of hurting someone else, or I can go numb. Either way have a shared experience of it.

I am the only me in my Soloverse.

There can be no other. Whatever God or I dwell within me, I still call it me.

Perhaps, I AM part of whatever Universe, the All-One, is? Yet, I walk the Earth as a Citizen here. But I originate from a Spirit of life. Simply, a spiritual being on a human path?

It is my choice to act as an animal of automatic reflex or express as a humane being acknowledging, with embrace of my conscience; all the beauty and suffering of the creature I AM.

We may, or might not, be “All One”, but we are all in this together!

Either way, I am my only me who can decide how I want to be. Perhaps that is the only freedom there is? Or at least matters!