Being True To Oneself
by Michael Doyle

One doesn't need to be a king to wield authority.
One only needs to have and possess personal sovereignty.
To know that strength lies in one's personal dignity.
And to dare to speak one's truth with great authority.

Hamlet is attributed as saying to one's self be true.
And you and I?  We know this truth is solidly true.
It is the pathway to gain success and be happy.
And in this, we understand Trump's success is in empathy.

Though the Left loves to decry an authoritarian personality
The reason for brokered peace around the world is his empathy.
The Oracle at Delphi challenged each of us to "know thyself."
This is perhaps the greatest truth on any bookshelf.

Seneca echoed this as being perhaps the greatest tool.
It is the tool that separates a wise man from a fool.
Damaging errors and undue bias in all of their confusion,
Mislead us into the cruelest of self-serving delusion.

Claiming, as it were, all sorts of lies and deceptions.
Like untrue Russian Hoaxes in attempts to win the nation.
Knowing ourselves is the toughest of challenges to master.
It causes even the bravest hearts to beat ever faster.

To do so, one gains self-awareness and the walk of honesty.
However imperfect the walk may be, it is one of integrity.
It is in this integrity that one gains an innate power
To be able to gain first insights and then rule the hour.

The hour of every crisis in a world filled with self-doubt.
The wisest of the wise have this much somewhat aptly figured out.
It is to see the world of yourself, for yourself, correctly.
And then to see the world how the world sees you indirectly.

It is to walk this world, seeing what others think they know.
Knowing that they do not correctly know and that it's a show.
Such insights open the door to holding personal integrity.
In this, those who would not be king build their legacy. 

(c) June 30, 2025   Michael Doyle
All Rights Reserved