Exquisitely Me

Two stanzas built entirely of adverbs (no verbs, no narrated actions), because identity is not demonstrated but felt. The first stanza is a self-portrait by accumulation: "uniquely" opens with the awareness of a personality that feels rare; "definitively" seals its permanence, a core that does not shift; "solely" introduces the cost of this uniqueness, a loneliness that surfaces when no one meets you halfway; "exclusively" is its bitter consequence, a withdrawal from those who show no comparable depth. At the centre, "exquisitely" bears the whole construction: it means "properly," reinforcing that final "me," but carries with it refinement and gentleness as defining traits.

The second stanza turns the mirror outward, and finds no one there. "Purposefully" demands the will to be oneself; "doggedly" raises the stakes: chance is not enough, it takes tenacity; "lastingly" insists it endure over time, not as a fleeting impression. "Albeit arduously" opens a crack in the disappointment: being oneself is hard, and the poet knows it, asking no impossibility. "Frankly" closes with the essential: openly, without pretence. Yet that "none... self" hangs suspended, a still-unanswered expectation.