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Some men try to seize the world
and shape it as they please,
but how can they succeed?
The world is a vessel complete unto itself.

Who tries to shape it, fails.
Who tries to grasp it, loses.

Some creatures plunge ahead, some pause behind.
Some breathe in fits, some breathe more gently.
Some resist, some yield to danger.
Some fill themselves, some become empty and hollow.

A person of integrity endeavors ever to be free:

free of extremes,
free of excess,
free of extraordinary extravagance.
© Douglas Allchin 2002