The Ubiquitous Dialectic (high school poem)

A poem I wrote for high school, probably spring 1984
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Oh why does man in isolation stay,
And many people find themselves alone?
When thousands in the street are crying loud,
And loneliness is there, when millions in
The world are dying so, but loneliness
Is there? What foolishness is this that men
Ignore their fellow man, that when they meet
They act as if the other is not there.
Decrepit men debase themselves, and in
Their loneliness continue on their way!

Oh why do I in isolation stay,
And I myself am found alone again,
When thousands in the streets are crying loud,
And loneliness is here, when millions in
The world are dying so, but loneliness
Is here? What right have I in loneliness
To live and separate myself from that
Which is within my grasp, the will to reach
Its height the only need. Decrepit I
Debase myself, continue on this road!

Yet lonely is this soul, who though it try
To enter in the fellowship of life,
Expires itself because it tries to hard.
What is the ill, that causes a retreat
From life? Is it a lack of courage, shy,
Or is it life's bombardments made us so?
Some yet are lonely with no knowledge of
This love to find its gentle touch, and some
Are lonely for the pride that they sustain.

E'en though a man bestride the world he may
Not be Colossus strong, for he who stands
Between two worlds no grasp in either has.
Two masters doth he try to keep, yet he
Cannot do so. When man mistaken sets
Himself above all else, he puts himself
Beyond the need of love from anyone.
True satisfaction in this life is not
On basis in exception from the rule,
But loneliness departs when man the rule
In general keeps, and love's true need upholds.

Now when a soul in loneliness is found,
The world he sees through different eyes, which know
The things of life before unseen. The trees
That he had never known, the sky so blue
Which never had stood out in boldness there.
Inside he looks, within, to find the cause;
So he can from this loneliness be purged,
So that which separates from unity
Of life be gone, and with withdrawal comes
The thrust which conscientious search will bring!

And all the love that man has seen from naught
Cannot be come, and its true Source is like
A magnet strong whose forces form closed loops.
True magnetism draws us toward the Source.
When it is sent to men, some don't respond;
But when a man responds, the loop has closed.
A magnet artificial doth he be!
You then become a source of love to man,
And send out lines which others send you back.
But when the lines aren't sent or aren't by men
Received, a man becomes a lonely soul.

When life's immortal time continues on,
Withdrawal from the world will once more come,
But if sincere a thrust will also forth,
And with each thrusting forth, a moment of
Reality from introspection reigns,
And understanding calms the raging seas
Of loneliness, a dialectic surge.