When we oppose the passions
with our reasons
or our concepts
with our emotions

we must remember that each
has it own rightness
and none is righteous
on its own.

It is tempting to surrender
our wills to
our beliefs, our intellect
to our desire,

but our composure depends
neither on the purity
of our deference, nor the piety
of our references.

It is easy to choose one
over the other;
the difficulty
is keeping it together.