This Then Again / " To Thine Own Self Be True" Poem by Shalom Freedman

This then again
‘To thine own self be true'

But without irony or mockery
Which ‘self' and ‘how' and ‘why'?

We are ourselves much and many more
Than we consciously know
And what we are truly are really are
Has to be the story of our life also
And more

We are true to ourselves
In one sense
Whatever we are

And in another
There is no way
We can be true
To all we are

And yet in some way
We can be true
To what we most believe
And care about
somehow

Or can we?