Great spirit,
pervade & restore my will.
Sharpen the edge of the blade.
Right the keel, halt the lateral drifting.
Give me the strength to resist
the conventional assumptions of all who have surrendered
& the might & devious techniques of their rulers
& the rulers' ambitious lieutenants.
Pull me back from the precipice
of mere bitterness, irony, sarcasm, cynicism.
Restore to me the most outrageous idealism -
without withdrawing the hard-won knowledge of the divergence
between what people mostly do & what people mostly say.
Restore to me the suppleness of young grass
& help me develop the endurance of the oak & acorn.
Give me the single-minded follow-thru of migrating butterflies,
the devotion of the dog, the cunning of the cat,
the sophistication of Socrates & Confucius
& of women among arrogant men.
Give me the will to develop & put to use capacities
equal & more to those of the most ruthless
exploiters of weaker humans.
Don't let me sigh in relief
& lapse into fatal comforting of myself!
Allow me to be good & great & powerfully effective!
Brace & aim & fuel my efforts!
Eric Chaet