for Kevin

You have felt tugged, as by some foreign force
taking you to the exotic land
of Good, where everyone’s self-made and lives
as an aristocrat, then pulled to Better,
then Best, stretched past your limit to Beyond.
And that great force has made your Soul feel taller.
But when you’re on the brink of being snapped
in two, my good friend, where’s the good in that?

Others feel called to Greatness or Perfection,
Beauty or Power. We’ve seen the detritus,
noted those quests as diabolical.
The grand deceiver was an angel once,
according to the celestial legend,
and retains all his former skills at Calling.

Good does not pass a mirror, pause and preen
or furnish his soul with accomplishment
to regale guests on plush wingchairs and show
the guerdon of self-sacrificing Good.
Good looks not at himself but at What Is
as clearly as he can, and goes, and does,
and tries again, to find a winning way.

Do Good, do Better, more, do All You Can
Do, then, my good friend. But no more than all!

For you’ll be needed, still, years from now.