TO TEMPER FREEDOM

I used to think
that oughts and shoulds
would hinder good –
that freedom to exert one’s will
was how one ought to go
to grow into the one
God has in mind.

But now that I am old
I think to temper freedom
is a good idea –
not to destroy it
but to constrain impulse enough
that one can honor
what other generations learned
that proved to work for them.