23 Launched at last, we have to tack our sails To suit the wind, respect the compass And the stars, the laws of navigation, Bind the freedom of our days To log-books and the groundwork of routine, Signalling to passers-by Who are on other routes but use a common code. Destroying or creating, moving on or standing still, Always we must be lovers, Man and wife at work upon the hard Mass of material which is the world, Related all the time to one another and to life, Not merely keeping house and paying bills And being worried when the kids are ill. Teach us. Love, above all things, fidelity to music, Sharpen our responses to the colours of creation, Lead us undeceptively to what comes after passion, And let us die. Love, as though we chose to, for a reason.