-- Unity in Diversity --

By John Herlihy

Power can hold weakness in the firmness of its hand,

While weakness holds power’s strength on demand.

Our fear cannot be fought with a fortress of stones,

While our soul and spirit can inhabit a bag of bones.

How can we shun vice without a true sense of virtue,

Understand time’s freedom without a sense of curfew.

Our successes can be well earned in ripples of applause,

While failures and its consequences give reason to pause.

If we had no real causes, there would be no true effect,

If we lived in shadows, there would be no light to reflect.

Subtle arguments will never offer up to you a fish to catch,

As commands fall on deaf ears with no obedience to match.

All nature’s forces vie with each other betwixt and between,

The unity behind the diversity will tell us what it all means.

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(c) John Herlihy 15 April 2019