Rags for Heaven
It isn’t the exercise
Of power that one gains strength
But in its constant restraint;
The greatest being that ever lived
won eternity in his stillness.
It isn’t in the arrogant
Display of authority that one begets respect;
But how fairly and humbly one dispenses it;
Justice isn’t giving someone what he needs
But what he truly deserves.
No one acquires dignity
In the suffering of others
Nor nobility at the expense
Of the slaves;
Heaven comes closer to one
Who gives up the best part of himself
To fill
The emptiness of others.