the cinnamon peeler's wife

M in a vicious world-to love virtue
A in a craven world-to have courage
R in a treacherous world-to prove loyal
I in a wavering world-to stand firm

A in a cruel world-to show mercy
N in a biased world-to act justly
N in a shameless world-to live nobly
E in a hateful world-to forgive

M in a venal world-to be honest
O in a heartless world-to be human
O in a killing world-to create
R in a sick world-to be whole

E in an epoch of UNself-to be ONEself

-e.e. cummings

(pulitzer-prize winning poet, author, critic: marianne moore. she was a friend to many of the 20th century's greatest: t.s. eliot, ezra pound, e.e. cummings, and allen ginsberg)
(E. E. Cummings, who was born in 1894 and died in 1962, wrote many
poems with unconventional punctuation and capitalization, and unusual line, word, and even letter placements. he was most famous for his ideograms- noted as an extremely terse form of prose that combines both visual and auditory elements. contrary to popular belief, he did capitalize his name at times, but i am still a fan of his "lower-cased eye".)