Member-only story
POETRY
Who Am I?
By way of introduction
Note: Below the poem is an audio clip of the author reading the poem.
What a hard and tricky question!
It’s obvious that I am Paul,
but let me offer this suggestion:
A name, alone, cannot be all.
I could as easily have been
Carlos, Friedrich, Piet or Abel.
As who I am, that’s mighty lean.
A name is but a label.
Should I cite my occupation,
scientist, software engineer,
provider of education?
But identity’s not career.
From other cultures comes a clue:
To state your true identity,
say whom you are related to;
tell stories of community.
From that expanded point of view,
I come to this conclusion:
To think I know completely who
I am is a delusion.
For now, I have it but in part,
a fractured piece of who I am.
But on the day when stops my heart,
face to face with the great I Am,
I’ll know.
