I focus on the Good to Emulate them,
I focus on the Bad to be Reminded of
What must be Changed Within myself²
The Good person will in Time be Gorgeous³
Purify the Inward sphere, and the many shapes
Of Evil that haunt the Outward sphere will become
Shadowy Phantoms, Vanishing of their own accord⁴
Integrity is the site in which Intention & Action are
As One – in Unison, Seamless, Without Abrasion⁵
A Pledge made with no words, but with the Body⁶
Never Stop Sculpting your own statue, until the
Godlike Splendor of Virtue shines forth to you⁷
Draw Lines through the Length and Breadth
Of the Aggregate of a man’s particular daily
Behaviors and Waves of Life into his Coves
And Inlets, and where they Intersect will be
The Heights and Depths of his Character⁸
Allow the Best to be Shown so that it
Reveals and Prevails over the Worst⁹
True Virtue does Not Act
And has No Intentions¹⁰
¹ Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own
² Confucius tr. Edward Slingerland, Analects 7.22
³ Sappho tr. Aaron Poochigian, The Gorgeous Man Presents a Gorgeous View
⁴ Nathaniel Hawthorne, Earth’s Holocaust
⁵ Ann Lauterbach, Task: To Open
⁶ Ursula K. Le Guin, Paradise Lost
⁷ Plotinus tr. unknown, Enneads
⁸ Henry David Thoreau, Walden
⁹ Jose Martí tr. unknown, Our America
¹⁰ Lao Tzu tr. Charles Muller, Tao Te Ching 38