To Thine Own Self Be True.

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
It seemed like an odd thing to teach
    a young boy.  What was your reason, dad?

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
Is that why I always felt out of step,
    marching to the beat of a different drummer?

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
Is that why my journey through life has been like
     the Great Wall of China - steep or shallow;
     rough or smooth; twisted and never straight for long;
     the view sometimes distant, sometimes near?

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
Is that why I treasure the silence - listening for that ‘small,
     still voice within’; much as you must have done
     many times as a Quaker?

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
I cried at your memorial service, dad, when I learned
     that you had been quoting this Shakespeare phrase
     in high school, long before you passed it on to me.

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
Who was it that taught it to you?  The grandfather
     I never got to meet?  Or some wise and sage
     person of your meeting?

‘To Thine Own Self be True.’
Is that why I listen to and try to honor the insights
      others have about me?  ‘He’s always been kind
      of spiritual.’  ‘You remind me of the monks at .....’

‘This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must
     follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then
     be false to any man.’ (Hamlet Act 1, sc 3, 78-80)
A way to live? (YES)  Another way of stating the
     second commandment of Christ?  Perhaps, since
     you can’t love others as yourself unless you truly
     love yourself, the true you.

‘This above all: to thine own self be true.’
Such a wonderful gift to have been given.
A gift I hope that I remember every time I zig instead
       of zagging; or embark in a totally new direction.
A gift that will be mine always, a reminder of a
      wise and insightful man, my father.