Poem #8: Integrity

Shakespeare said it this way in Hamlet as Polonius bids farewell to his son, Laertes, with this advice: "To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man." Self-honesty is the hallmark of maturity, self-awareness, and self-actualization, and when later in life you can finally understand yourself, respect yourself, accept yourself, then you can begin to comprehend and approach integrity. I choose to summarize in these poetic terms:

Integrity

When what you say
and think
and feel
and do

coincide precisely
without excuse
or rationalization
or tiptoeing around the facts.

Like its kin, reputation,
a lifelong task to establish
and much harder to rebuild
once compromised.

A blooming garden
demanding daily weeding
lest dandelions creep in, choking veracity
and impeding blossoms.

Never random,
not an occasional life choice
nor an accidental life occurrence
but a daily, conscious, concerted lifestyle.

None can bequeath it to you.
None can snatch it from you.
It is your gift to yourself,
and only you can destroy it.

copyright 1998 by Chuck Morlock