We are born with no identity,
Except that bestowed on us by others.
We are somebody’s daughters,
Somebody’s sisters,
Somebody’s sons or brothers.
Somebody’s firstborn, or best hope,
Somebody’s own dream unfulfilled,
Somebody’s religion perhaps, or class,
Someone else’s strong wishes willed.
We grow into these things for a while,
These identity mantles we wear,
They help us define who we are,
Till they get far too heavy to bear.
Then we cast them off, often with struggle,
Throw them to the proverbial floor,
Deny that all these things define us,
For we know deep inside we are more.
So off we head on our own pathways,
On our journeys to find our true self,
To find who we are on our own,
When our history is left on the shelf.
But through troubles and time we discover,
Though we may stand on a distant shore,
We are indeed all those things that defined us,
But we also are more,
So much more.
Random Misanthrope 
I like this very much. It reminded me how many expectation mantles I shed and had to pickup. Now I simply wear tee shirts.
fabulous work… it reminds me the expectations i sheded off… and the expectations i now have…
but still we are more, so much more…
happy rally
http://bupinder21.wordpress.com/2012/01/23/panun-kashmir/
Wow, Ken, this was exceptional. Seriously good. The ending almost brought a tear to my eye. I can really identify (no pun intended) with this. 🙂
Thanks very much. I started thinking about the idea after seeing Simon & Ekarna at the movies yesterday. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it. Really great film.
true,
powerful expressions.
Am I the sum of my past? That and so much more….I wrote about this on a different veniue about a week ago. good subject, I liked the poem.
http://wanderwithoutbeinglost.blogspot.com/2012/01/bound.html
This was so wonderful to read. I really enjoyed reading it. As I grew up I questioned my worth, my place in this world, whether or not I would leave something good behind or even whether everything I’d gone through in life had trapped me in a concrete world where everything was set and nothing could be changed. As I read the last few lines:
But through troubles and time we discover,
Though we may stand on a distant shore,
We are indeed all those things that defined us,
But we also are more,
So much more.
I am quite glad to say that yes, I am everything that my past has made me, but I’m not stuck in concrete and while things that have happened already can’t be changed, the future is mine and I can be anything I want to be. Thanks for posting this!
http://elizena-lovingmycreator.blogspot.com/
Really glad it struck a chord with you Elizena! It is something we all go through, but I was led to be thinking about it recently to a current movie I saw, “Simon & The Oaks” after a book by Marianne Fredriksson. It’s a Swedish film, so I don’t know if it is available in English yet, but it is very good and in large part deals with that theme of identity.
we are so much more, you are right
nanotubes
Made me stop and consider with a bit more depth today. Thank you.
What beautiful flow of words. The last few lines are simplistic and helped me retrace and reassure me of a few past events.