You tell what you are by the friends you seek,
By the very manner in which you speak,
By the way your 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 kind of things at which you laugh,
By records you play on the phonograph.

You tell 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.

From Poems That Inspire (Zondervan, 1960.
This poem is now in the public domain.