A Poet's Dilemma

We are so much more than our past mistakes Our lost dreams and missed opportunities Yet we secretly perform self evaluating double takes  With no quarter given for redemption or immunity.  We hold ourselves to higher standards than strangers See someone else when we look in the mirror Live in constant fear of the old nagging danger  That somehow we never seem to deliver The perfect response wear the right suit of clothes Who am I what am I Sometimes God only knows Mistaken, misshapen by GQ and Vogue Controlled by what others may think Can't stir up the courage to go it alone So we teeter on our own egos brink We say yes to parties we will not attend Or say I'm busy, can't make it, don't mean to offend.  Then second guess our decisions again and again Before we return to our true friend the pen.