Very similar words to this final stanza of one of mine:

"Alone, not lonely
Spirit fills
companionship needs"

My stanza in my https://medium.com/write-under-the-moon/everlasting-love-affair-d8d843d4416a was about how I am never lonely and only physically alone because spirits are constantly in my presence. Regardless, I often since my awakening have had thoughts as you express today, that I am very good at keeping myself company. I live in rural PA, alone in a farm house, surrounded by fields, and lately am reading a lot of books instead of watching TV, and I've never felt better. The running and long walks help in that regard too.

I liked the very straightforward presentation of your poem today. A reminder to all that a poem need not be flowery and full of literary or poetic devices.

Yes, loving oneself before we can truly love another, or actually, until we can have a successful relationship with another. As Neale Donald Walsch wrote down as said to him in one of his conversations with God, "The purpose of a relationship is not to have another who might complete you, but to have another with whom you might share your completeness."

And as I have said in the first 5 lines of my dizain "The Fiercest Live of All," (no link this time 😉):

"I must unconditionally love me
Unleashing infinite capacity
Love without judgment — full into-me-see
Tough love with strength of full veracity
Soul and animus in complicity"

So much of what you packed into your poem today resonated with me. The part about realizing who I am, what I am not, and being at peace with that. I tried to convey all that to my kids in an email a few years ago. It's in my profile and here's a portion:

"I could go on for many pages probably, but I want to focus on the most important lesson I can help you with, one that took me my entire adult life to learn: one will never achieve success if they follow a path ill-suited for one’s essential nature....You have probably heard, “try as you might, you cannot fit a square peg into a round hole.” Not heard is that a round peg will fit a square hole, but not well. If the diameter of the circle is just a smidge smaller than the sides of the square, it will fit ok but there will be lots of unfilled space — unfulfillment. That’s ok. Maybe. But if the diameter is any smaller than that, it will endlessly slide around and get bruised banging into the walls of the square. That is me. I have clues to what my calling is and it is never too late to remake oneself and I shall succeed."

I found out recently that email from 4 years ago was not as well received as I had hoped. But they are still just 19 and 21. Hopefully I planted seeds in their minds that will help them. Meanwhile I have to accept A Parent’s Pain and Pleasure https://medium.com/catharsis-chronicles/a-parents-pain-and-pleasure-fdf6151c8b28, subtitled, "A poem and reflection on my parenting choices, my childhood, my children, and unconditional love."

Thom, I think you'll appreciate the style I employed in that poem