Some Light Ethical Verse

Not through a torrent of money
or in sensual enjoyment
can satisfaction be found.
The skilled person, knowing that
sensual enjoyment is painful,
yielding but little pleasure,

does not take delight
even in divine enjoyments.

-- Dhammapada, 186-187

Blessed who knows to fulfill his cravings, in measure,
Origins, his life is like a fundament, set on the strong foundations
Of the earth. Not from us, but through need, not in us, but destiny's hand
Moves the world, like a blind crone pushing a cart. There is no fighting,
No war or enduring resolve, but only the clever and constant attachment
To things as they are. The skilled mind adapts to each situation
As it moves, transforming like the beast of many colors to fit -- he fits himself
To the way things work. What is pleasure but a blessing, and pain

If not a wilderness? Pleasure coaxes us, goads us on
Like a wise guide, like a shepherd leading his flock; pain pulses
Away from what we can't know, reality's depth -- plunge not
To explore deep waters, but keep to the way, the appearance of truth --
Do not challenge the good guide. Pleasure knows the steer of things,
The oceans as they were before sand, the stars in their fragrance of birth.

The idle man is a ferocious tyrant, who whips down pleasure
To his need, who seeks to constrain and restrain all restraint, who drives on
The natural driver. The good man takes joy in things as they are, seeks not to change them,
For better or worse. He gapes at the path of time, but lays himself open
To what feels right, and shudders at things that bring pain.