Platonic Relationship

Plato strove within the grove to teach
His young students of life
How one foot in the soot and one in the clouds
creates balance and lessens the strife

In our walk on the block path of
Personal growth.
Still, we’re rarely aware that to grow,
We need both

A fiery desire for spiritual things and an
Eye to agreements we’ve built.
All too often we soften commitments to one,
And in the other plunge deep to the hilt.

It is easy and pleasing to stay on the ground
Ignoring the ways to higher self
Or hang out in the clouds with our crystals and shrouds
Putting Earthly cares up on a shelf.

I stand with my hand ’round a disconnect tag
Left by some gone electrical truck,
Blink my eyes, realize that I’m stretching to grow
But my butt is stuck firmly in muck.

— Stace Johnson, 1993