You Tell On Yourself
You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime.
You tell what you are by the clothes you wear,
By the spirit in which your burdens you bear,
By the kinds of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on your phonograph.
You show what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat,
By so simple a thing as how you eat.
By the books you choose from a well-filled shelf–
In these ways and others you tell on yourself.
So really there’s not a grain of sense
In trying to keep up a false pretense.
-C.L. Anderson
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Hello Shawn,
How are you doing?…..such a great poem you posted. Love it!
Hey Sally, been a while. I’m glad you’re still around. I’m doing ok, except my site keeps dropping down in the search engines! Not sure what I’ve done to anger them! How have you been?
Very true i believe so!!!!!
Phonograph???? Record???? Wow.
Realistic
Thanks Shawn. Indeed we try to pretend not realizing that we tell on ourselves through our daily activities. I hope to be mindful of the way i conduct myself next time. They are worthy reading these your quotes.
Thanks Doreen. I hope you keep on visiting and adding your 2 cents. 🙂
Hi Shawn, what a fantastic poem! I’m recording it in my book if you don’t mind. Wonderful stuff.
What book?
hi, really excellant work by you to post these.. loved this a lot..
Wonderful poem Shawn, great insight to the many things we do that creates an image we may not even foresee at times.
Hi Shawn,
I am posting comments but I never see them on the site anymore, I was wondering what the reason is. Does that mean if you are not on Facebook you are not validated. Please let me know.
Hello Shawn,
This a great poem and within these words of wisdom a very important lesson can be learned. It is sad when people have to pretend to be something other then who they are to be accepted, cared for and loved. sad because they do not believe they hold any value for who they are. We all have special gifts to share with our family, friends and even strangers we meet. We possess loving hearts and souls, wonderful ideas, strengths that maybe other do not see, well it is time to show our skills and believe in ourselves, these are inner qualities we can share that maybe no one else has. So why is it they we think we have present a certain character or trait to be excepted. Everyone is unique in their own special way, life would be boring if we were all the same. Hiding behind a mask we do so much injustice to ourselves. Be proud for what you believe in and who you are.
Thanks Shawn, I appreciate your quotes and write a lot of them down in my journals that I’ve kept since I was a kid. I share them with family and friends because I believe they help others as well. Thanks again 😊
Thanks so much, Dell. I LOVE to hear what you just said. It’s amazing to hear that because I think most people don’t leave comments on blogs anymore! 6-10 years ago, when this blog was on fire, I’d get a ton of positive feedback, but a lot less now. Thanks again. How do you pass them on to family/friends?
The poem was written by C. L. Anderson according to credit given on a handwritten copy in my Aunt Ethyl’s papers.
Thanks, Joyce!! I will update the blog post with that name now.