Be Yourself- Ellen Bailey

Why would you want to be someone else
When you could be better by being yourself
Why pretend to be someone you are not
When you have something they haven't got

Cheating yourself of the life you have to live
Deprives others of that only which you can give
You have much more to offer by being just you
Than walking around in someone else's shoes

Trying to live the life of another is a mistake
It is a masquerade; nothing more than a fake
Be yourself and let your qualities show through
Others will love you more for being just you 

Remember that God loves you just as you are
To Him you are already a bright shining star
Family and friends will love you more too
If you spent time practicing just being you

   Bailey starts her poem off with a question, "Why would you want to be someone else", this implied rhetorical questions makes the audience think why they would have ever thought they would want to be someone else. After asking her question she makes her audience feel better with the next line, "When you could be better by being yourself", she tells her audience there isn't a point, in trying to being like someone else because you are a better you, just being you.

   Ellen follows a pattern, of putting the audience down in a way in the first line of every stanza. And in the second line showing the audience of how great they already are. She continually shows us that we can offer the world things that no other person can, in the same unique way that we did.

    Bailey let's her audience know in the last line of her poem, "If you spent time practicing just being you", that being you will not just happen over night and that you must practice.



http://www.ellenbailey.com/poems/ellen_077.htm