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You Tell On Yourself
You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime,
You tell what you are by the things you wear,
By the spirit in which you burdens bear,
By the kinds of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on the phonograph,
You show what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat,
By so simple a thing as how you eat,
By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf:
In these ways and more, you tell on yourself.
So, there’s really no particle of sense,
In an effort to keep up false pretense.
by Marie Losavio
You tell on yourself by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way you employ your leisure time,
By the use you make of dollar and dime,
You tell what you are by the things you wear,
By the spirit in which you burdens bear,
By the kinds of things at which you laugh,
By the records you play on the phonograph,
You show what you are by the way you walk,
By the things of which you delight to talk,
By the manner in which you bear defeat,
By so simple a thing as how you eat,
By the books you choose from the well-filled shelf:
In these ways and more, you tell on yourself.
So, there’s really no particle of sense,
In an effort to keep up false pretense.
by Marie Losavio
3 Comments
I learned the beginning of this poem in 1972
I also had this poem on a wall hanging, bought it in Toronto Canada, I loved it, it spoke to my 24 old self, I’m now reaching 79 and it’s equally loved. So glad I found it! The wall hanging is long gone but I had to look it up to find and so thankful O found the whole verse.
I have always loved this poem. It was introduced to me in highschool and I am near 50 now!
