[Click the picture above to hear music composed by the author]

1.

We dwell on Earth as spawn of chance,

Not from damning or reward.

If there is some hand that writes our fates,

It is this world its prose moves toward.

2. 

Despite the maudlin and profane

Virtue yet may shine

And through its splendid light

Meaning's glimpsed again.

3.

Sainthood is a heady wine.

Take thee to a nunnery,

If only of the mind?

Deny your chance to be?

From pain and pleasure flee?

The humblest creatures love to live.

To those in need you've much give.

4. 

Live not abandoned, wild and wooly,

Yet be not prudish, to the letter;

A stiffened corpse can do that better.

Live your life and love it fully.

5.  

Respecting others and the Earth,

Find the good in every season.

That's our freedom and our fetter:

Spirits that forever soar,

Tied to Earth, yet wanting more.

6.

At once so blessed, and so cursed:

Something, somewhere, keeps a score,

Of joy and sorrow, equal versed.