Own Your Own Self Poem by MacGregor Tagliaferro

Knew you back when:
We met in San Marcos
We had breakfast
once on the square
You, a full woman who
wrote some fine songs
Me, full of pretendin'
Tryin' to right myself

From time to time
I'd see you at Gruene Hall
We'd drink a cold beer and
we'd talk and I'd wonder
about what if
But I was too busy
waltzin' and romancin',
it turns out, the wrong girl

I knew something
was missin' in my life
But I did not know what
I tried to write some songs
But while the words would come
the melodies would not
There was something missin'
Something just not quite right

One day, of a sudden,
it all finally changed
I discovered I was
forcin' my words,
forcin' myself,
to be something
they could not be,
that I could never be

So I did what
had to be done;
I packed my gear
and my fears and
I walked away
from the wrong girl,
from everything,
and moved out West

Surrounded by
big skies and solitude,
all day long, I read and I wrote
and I wrote and I read
I kept comin' back to
one thing you used to say;
'No matter what,
own your own self'

Well, first I had
to know myself
And in time I came to
In the cool, star strewn nights
Then I had to learn to accept
myself and all my faults
And in time I did, here
in the clear mountain air

So, I own my own self,
now after all these many years
and all these many miles
I'm still out West
Where I belong
I miss the high Hill Country rain,
the barbeque, the live music,
and two-steppin' in Gruene

But I am still dancin'
It's just that now
I dance with my
words and regrets
I just hope that
remains enough
How else, in the long run,
does a poet's heart break

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