THE WAY

       If looking out for Number One were all
       the virtue and the prowess we could boast,
       as ancestors of the long-fabled Fall,
       that is the least of us and not the most.
       There’s more implicit in humanity
       than often is, alas, made manifest;
       so much of history is insanity,
       it’s hard to recognize us at our best.
       But focus on the highest we’ve achieved,
       despite our waywardness and lack of love;
       attend to what great sages have conceived
       as transcendental means to rise above
       the motives and impulses that destroy
       serenity—our only route to joy.

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