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Practical/Impractical
Be not practical always my dear
count not your gains and losses,
like a miser her petty change,
worry not overmuch about the
consequences of your desires,
forget about the morrow with
all its cares and disappointments.
Seize the day, as the poets say,
enjoy yourself, before your body
itself withers or decays, but best
of all, try to obtain the object
of your passion, the Other, like
a ripe fruit, plucked, consumed,
and savoured--relish unparalleled.
Dear me, be practical nowadays:
distrust love's sugary words,
recognize his various guises,
fear the end of passion, beware
of its bitter aftertaste like
wormwood or gall, preserve your-
self at all costs, yield not
to momentary temptation, but
be well-guarded against any
stray desire or blandishment
lest you awake from your trance
utterly undone, bereft, lost--
damaged and twisted beyond repair,
unfit to give or receive happiness.
My dear, be neither impractical
nor practical, neither careless
nor too careful, neither brave
nor fearful, neither too eager
nor too restrained, but always
poised in the self, surefooted,
balanced in body and mind, neither
seek nor refuse the joys of this
earth, the pleasures of sound or
sense, the myriad flavours of the
flesh, but calmly share in
whatever happiness or pain comes
your way, shunning the excess
of both denial and indulgence.
