Out of touch

You cannot live forever in other worlds,
Worlds of fiction, of mind, of religion, of politics, of sport, of music, of . . .
No matter how satisfying they may be,
Or what you strive to accomplish,
Stay too long and you risk losing touch,
Not just with the wider reality around you,
But with yourself as well.

Balance

Balance must be sought in all things:
Between reason and emotion,
Between the needs of the many and of the individual,
Between a victim’s justice and compassion for the accused,
Between science and faith,
Between our rights and our responsibilities,
Between work, family and self,
And so on.

Balance is difficult to find,
For matters are often simpler, more certain, at extremes,
And we must be wary of such.

Even when you think you have found your balance,
Test it,
Time and again,
To ensure it remains.