So you’ve come to peddle your wares
And to besmirch your blue suede shoes.
So you’ve come to regret your errors,
To think of the old as new.
So you’ve become the king of your fears
And the kingdom of heaven is yours.
So you’ve come to lengthen your years,
To preserve what is best, of course.
So you’ve atoned and caressed and cavorted and grown.
And so in your own eyes you’ve become the mere representation
Of what’s good to be had:
the meekest alternative to being done.
But never forget that heightened emotion,
And that perilous sidelong glances are nothing
But furious tones, ill-defined.
Never withhold the respectful devotion
That love and its grace, command.
Never let go of the Biblical maxim
That to thine and to theirs is too few:
That what separates you and me and the heirs
Is no more than a grain of salt,
Or maybe two.
Never cease to remind yourself
That us is to ours, heart to heart;
That which is worthy of grace is too kind;
That which is despicable is not.
-- From "The Womb" by Daniel Viragh