Flying Lesson

Between piety and dubiety
Betwixt fundamentalism and doubt
Stands the golden mean of satiety
Wherein the soul soars but never flies blind

While those souls on the fringes flail about
Faith and reason in their season heart and mind
In equipoise avoid the noise and strife
Of the unbalanced and unexamined life

When fringes fail extremes have sorely tried
When what has been is gone let go and be
Come find the middle and be satisfied
To be full of now and open to love

Finding unity in variety
With no one beneath you and no one above
Past drunkenness beyond sobriety
From that which might have been to the golden mean

Seek not the overfullness born of greed
Wrapped in the cheap self-printed cloth of sloth
But that balance between excess and need
The satisfaction of satiety

Trust but verify claim yet clarify
For there is really but one society
To be shared by all and by you and me
Keep your wings healthy and strong: fly high fly long

+Steven Curtis Lance



Copyright MMVI

know this...all-too-well...beautiful portrayal.
misty..

what a great idea - the title and the poem. a classy poem from our professor of poetry.

Thank you so much, both of you; you both are fine and wise poets, and your opinions mean a lot to me.

I wrote this poem for my children, both biological and spiritual, and for those younger in general, addressing the question of faith and reason. I was so happy and gratified this evening to have the beautiful experience of sharing it with my daughter and having her say she really liked and "got" this poem, and that it is one of my better ones. I always feel better after a good visit with any of my kids. My son Stevie II is playing a pretty important rock show tonight, and I'm really proud of him, and all the kids at Starbucks--some of my spiritual children--have their copies of The Red Book of Lance and are reading and enjoying them. If I were to die tonight, I would die satisfied that my life had not been lived in vain. I'm ready to go anytime, having done what I came here to do.

I really, really like to write poems and share them with you. Thanks for being so understanding and supportive. My cousin Greg Murray is here now too, and I am very proud of him; he's a wonderful poet.

We've sure been through a lot here, but we've come through it all rather well, I daresay. Thank you so much for all you have done to make this place the harmonious and reflective oasis which it is, a place to think seriously about poetry, to share with others, and to grow.

Respect and solidarity, cheers and love, always,

+Stevie