Targ

ON GOOD & EVIL

And one of the elders of the city said,
"Speak to us of Good and Evil."

And he answered:

Of the good in you I can speak,
but not of the evil.

For what is evil but good
tortured by its own hunger and thirst?

Verily when good is hungry
it seeks food even in dark caves,
and when it thirsts,
it drinks even of dead waters.

You are good
when you are one with yourself.

Yet when you are not one with yourself
you are not evil.

For a divided house is not a den of thieves;
it is only a divided house.

And a ship without rudder
May wander aimlessly among perilous isles
yet sink not to the bottom.

You are good when you strive
to give of yourself.

Yet you are not evil
when you seek gain for yourself.

For when you strive for gain
you are but a root that clings to the earth
and sucks at her breast.

Surely the fruit cannot say to the root,
"Be like me, ripe and full and ever giving
of your abundance."

For to the fruit giving is a need,
as receiving is a need to the root.

You are good
when you are fully awake in your speech,

Yet you are not evil
when you sleep while your tongue
Staggers without purpose.

And even stumbling speech
May strengthen a weak tongue.

You are good when you walk
to your goal firmly and with bold steps.

Yet you are not evil
when you go thither limping.

Even those who limp go not backward.

But you who are strong and swift,
See that you do not limp before the lame,
deeming it kindness.

You are good in countless ways,
and you are not evil
when you are not good,

You are only loitering and sluggard.

Pity that the stags
Cannot teach swiftness to the turtles.

In your longing for your giant self
lies your goodness:
and that longing is in all of you.

But in some of you that longing
is a torrent rushing with might
to the sea, carrying the secrets
of the hillsides
and the songs of the forest.

And in others it is a flat stream
that loses itself in angles
and bends and lingers before
it reaches the shore.

But let not him who longs much
say to him who longs little,
"Wherefore are you slow and halting?"

For the truly good ask not the naked,
"Where is your garment?"
nor the houseless,
"What has befallen your house?"

ON FRIENDSHIP

He is your field
which you sow with love
and reap with thanksgiving.

And he is your board and your fireside.

For you come to him with your hunger,
and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind
you fear not the "nay"
in your own mind,
nor do you withhold the "ay."

And when he is silent
your heart ceases not to listen to his heart;

For without words, in friendship,
all thoughts, all desires,
all expectations are born and shared,
with joy that is unacclaimed.

When you part from your friend,
you grieve not;

For that which you love most in him
may be clearer in his absence,
as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain.

And let there be no purpose in friendship
save the deepening of the spirit.

For love that seeks aught
but the disclosure of its own mystery
is not love but a net castforth:
and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend.

If he must know the ebb of your tide,
let him know its flood also.

For what is your friend
that you should seek him with hours to kill?

Seek him always with hours to live.

For it is his to fill your need,
but not your emptiness.

And in the sweetness of friendship
let there be laughter,
and sharing of pleasures.

For in the dew of little things
the heart finds its morning
and is refreshed.