Today-
do I have
something
worthwhile
to write or say?

my heart
I must search
myself I'd demean
if from duty
and responsibility
I walk away

for too easily
ego takes the day's
centre-stage
and I in my folly
fall a ready prey

the day
ah, the grandeur
and splendour!
the self-becoming
the beauty-unfolding
what role should
I play
on the shore
of humanity
or to my shame
my puerile self
and callousness display?

I and the world
others and I
faces I encounter
as each person
I walk by
a mask
I should not wear
my heart
I should unlock
to breathe and take in
life as it manifests
even in its most minuscule
and humble is-ness

I shouldn't walk away
either in nonchalance
or derision but feel
the common pulse
of which I'm part
thereof or become less
of what I should be
for all life is verily
one heart beating
in the corporate symphony
whose every note
speaks of both
you and me
of our joys, our sorrows
our fears, our tears
our nobility
our common humanity--

and I can't but think
of Beethoven's immortal Choral Symphony
An Die Freude set to Schiller's poetry
and to myself I say
make this a day
of joy and thanksgiving
my very day
lest
I might not again
pass this way.