Jean Mallette - Values

I would quit the world entire,
Free my mind from false desires,
Find my soul in Nature's womb,
Quit the climb to status doom.
But in the words of Donne,
Man's not of himself, alone.
He is all that which he meets-
Good and bad; truth and deceit.
Thus, his values are then drawn
From what he learns to pride and own.
To these values he is slave,
From birth extending to the grave.

Give me not to glass and clay-
Things that last but for the day;
Things that shatter at the touch-
Pray I value these not much.
Give me to the living flower,
To the Night's eternal power,
To the things that live forever,
Things that fall to Death but never
Disappear; to things reborn
From things once crushed and torn.
Give me sight into my soul,
Joy into my mortal role;
With these things I will be strong-
To these things I shall belong.

Jean Mallette

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