Do not retreat into your private world,

That place of safety, sheltered from the storm,

Where you may tend your garden, seek your soul,

And rest with loved ones where the fire burns warm.

To tend a garden is a precious thing

But dearer still the one where all may roam,

The weeds of poison, poverty, and war,

Demand your care, who call the earth your home.

To seek your soul, that is a precious thing,

But you will never find it on your own,

Only among the clamour, threat, and pain

Of other people´s need will love be known.

To rest with loved ones is a precious thing,

But peace of mind exacts a higher cost,

your children will not rest and play in quiet,

While they still hear the crying of the lost.

Do not retreat into your private world,

There are more ways than firesides to keep warm;

There is no shelter from the rage of life,

So meet its eye, and dance within the storm.

Kathy Galloway,