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Amanda Melton Sep 2014
What does it mean, ‘be yourself?’
It means don’t be a lone book hiding on a shelf,
Closed and afraid of being open.

Well, I say open!
Open up your true you!
People knew,
who you were all those years ago!

Now it’s time although,
You are scared,
You shall declare!
Declare to the heavens, “I am me!
And I will always be,
Me.
Perfect!
The way I am!”

You, be you!
Cause you know,
who you are.
You, be you!
Dina Aug 2014
Look at how I've controlled your little mind
I find humor in when you think that without me you won’t please yours or any other eye
I can manipulate you into believing that in my absence that word pretty you will never define
Chanel, L’Oreal, Maybelline
what else of me have you  prioritized
of what I offer, you own a collection so wide
from your dresser
to your pocket
or in that bag you carry by your side
contouring so you can attain that distinct jaw line
or black winged liner to change the shape of your eye
why haven't you realized?
that you're gradually making me a necessity in your lives
though
of this you have no clue
due to your false judgment which has convinced you to assume
that your flaws should be hidden because they don’t make you, you
The richness of the colors I offer
will keep you satisfied
The cherry red on your lips that feels every breath
you take in
one smudge and you’re ready to reapply
why
do you act as if nature has done some sort of crime?
Let face it if there’s anyone who should be fined
it is I
for deluding you to ignore the innocence of your face
whose beauty you've chose not to embrace
and have resorted to me as your only escape
leaving  with what’s beneath to suffocate
making you confident
like fulfilling some need
only for a period of time
I succeed
so on me don’t be too dependent
for I’m just a temporary lie
step outside
keeping in mind
that true beauty radiates from what’s inside
don't take to heart on what they criticize
do not get used to me
because dear
I do not define
Lunar Jul 2014
It's not that I'm needy or desperate,
but the fact that I don't want to be lonely.
It's not that I am scared of people,
but how I am waiting for someone to save me from this mind of fear.
Being in a room filled with people
and yet I, as my true self, have no one to be with, in fear of anyone knowing I am one-in-the-universe and deciding that I am not worth their effort and time, and in the end, I get left behind all over again.
Courtlyn Quay Jul 2014
Don't stress it. try your hardest, or your very best.
Actually just do it, or don't.
Nothing makes the perfect human being.
Try to be kind, to others always pay mind
Never make a promise you cant keep
Don't look at others with vision so steep
Don't do a lot of things
Do a lot of things.
Just be the best person you can be
Teressia Jun 2014
am so independent
who comes across my way
i put the world behind me
i live a single life
i decided long ago
my tears are for happiness
my talk is for laughter
my heart is for loving
my hands are for reaching out
my legs are for leading
my personality is to inspire
i will use my days to search for joy
i will use my breath to give love
in myself i found love
in the world i own nothing
in myself i own so much
whoever comes my way gets joy
to the world am a criminal
to myself am innocent
there's so much in this world
but to be who you are,
or to be happy
you have to hide everything behind
live life as nothing is wrong
live life as nothing to worry about
live life as nothing is going on
trying to live life to the fullest. finding joy in ones self and others.
Mary Christopher Jun 2014
I wanted to be the one who saved him
And maybe that’s the saddest part,
That I wanted to save him
But failed.
I kept trying, but I never could

And I know that’s kind of horrible,
That I didn’t want him to be himself.
I wanted him to be someone else

Someone he wasn’t
And never would be
And never could be
Even if he tried

I wanted him
But I also wanted someone else
So I tried to make him be both

But of course I failed
Because each of us
Has only one life to live

So if someday
He becomes someone he’s not
I will know

And I will hate it
Because now I realize how beautiful
His own self really is

And I would never wish him to be someone else
Not now
Not anymore

Because I am me
And he is he
And that’s all we’ll ever be

And knowing that is a strange sort of beautiful
That not even the best writer could put into words.

m.c.c.
about a friend of sorts...
Elizabeth P May 2014
Vanity is the killer sin of woman and man
Showing up everywhere in common day society
Magazines, books, music, and on and on and on

We are all guilty of it to some degree
From the man spraying on cologne in the attempt to get a partner
To women in talon-tipped platform heels

We have convinced our sons and daughters that beauty is something that must be manufactured
Not purposely, no! But we still have!
Not the natural ways of us human beings

Nature tells us, "Beauty shall not be messed with."
Yet that's what we keep doing!

To the brave, the bold, the foolish,
Whatever you may be
I dare you
To look beyond cultural
Social
Influences on mankind
And see that everyone is beautiful to someone in someway
And that true beauty is internal
And vanity matters not!
Just be real friend.
Be who you are,
and where you are at.
That's enough,
and it's the only way
forward.

Most of us have put on enough masks
in our life time,
to have completely forgotten
our original face.

We've become far too clad
with the heavy coats of expectation,
suffocating under the weight
of the ways we think we ought to be.

You can drop that garb.

There's always mystery
at the naked core of who you are,
and that's just fine.

It's not that we must rediscover
some definable self,
and hand that image over
for validation.
Rather, those solid definitions we
cart around with us
are heavy enough as it is,
but we've continued pushing them
despite the distress.

We've gotten so used
to that awkward play
of needing to be a somebody,
as if that somebody
were other than
who we already are.

We've forgotten how to let go
with all the spontaneity
of a flowers growth;
forgotten the beauty
of our own personal bloom.
That we are a fluid sweep
of light and dark.
That our faces,
like the moons,
wax and wane.

You don't have to be any which way,
other than the way you are.
That sort of self acceptance
is the innate flourish,
is the fluid self cycle,
is the way back into life.

Don't fool yourself
into believing
there is a better disguise.
Strip down to the bare beauty
of your authentic state
in this moment,
and move from there.

— The End —