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Licinius, let your middle name
be Caution.

Mediocrity: a pejorative
to the footloose; an insult
even to conservatives

yet the middle way,
rightly lived,
is a sharp edge,

heart and mind prepared
for today's ice, tomorrow's swelter;

a cutter-self
that can discern

when to give out
and when to haul
sail.