this endeavor to preserve one’s being

“After Experience Taught Me ...”:

No man can desire to act rightly, to be blessed,   

To live rightly, without simultaneously

         You must call up every strength you own   

         And you can rip off the whole facial mask.

Wishing to be, to act, to live. He must ask   

First, in other words, to actually exist.

                           And you, whiner, who wastes your time

                              Dawdling over the remorseless earth,   

                           What evil, what unspeakable crime

                              Have you made your life worth?

W. D. Snodgrass.