A GOOD LIFE

for H. Hayward Hirsch
A Good Man

  It’s not how someone dies that’s bad or good,
  But whether one has lived as humans should—
  Humanely, with a care for the well-being
  Of others in their needs, since that is freeing;
  While otherwise—self-centered, clamped and cold—
  Reveals a soul like Faustus’ that’s been sold
  To purchase vain delight and fickle pleasure,
  Imperiling a human’s only treasure:
  Our precious essence of integrity,
  That holy wholeness we are meant to be.
       The end of all our race is to be well,
       Yet failing that high goal, we end in hell.

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