To Not Know What One Is And Should Be Poem by Shalom Freedman

TO NOT KNOW WHAT ONE IS AND SHOULD BE

To not know what one is and should be
Is ridiculous at the age of seventy-

To play games with one's own identity
Is a sport for those much younger-

Nonetheless I in my endless I-I-I ing
Play on,
Less serving You
Than I once dreamed,
And still obsessed as I was supposed to learn not to be
By my own name

Vanity of vanity says the preacher
And I in my case
In spades.