The Souls of Others

Concentrate
Every minute like a Roman
Like a man
On doing what’s in front of you with precise and genuine seriousness
Tenderly
Willingly
With justice

And on freeing yourself from all other distractions
Yes, you can
If you do everything as if it were the last thing you were doing in your life
And stop being aimless
Stop letting your emotions override what your mind knows
Stop being hypocritical
Self-centered
Irritable
You see how few things you have to do to live a satisfying and reverent life?
If you can manage this
That’s all even the gods can ask of you

[Chorus]
Yeah, keep on degrading yourself
Soul
Soon your chance at dignity
It will be gone
Everybody gets one life
Yours is almost all used up
Now
And instead of treating yourself
With respect
You have entrusted
Your own happiness
Unto the souls of others
Unto the souls of others

Do external things distract you?
Then make time to learn something worthwhile
Stop letting yourself be pulled in all directions
But make sure you guard against the other kind of confusion
People who labor all their lives but have no purpose to direct
Every thought and impulse toward are wasting all their time
Even when hard at work
Even when hard at work

Ignoring what goes on in other people’s souls
No one ever came to grief that way
But if you won’t keep track of what your own soul’s doing
How can you not be unhappy?

Don’t ever forget these things
The nature of the world
My nature
How I relate
Unto the world
What proportion of it I make up
That you are part of nature
And no one can prevent you from speaking and acting in harmony with it
Always

[Chorus]
Yeah, keep on degrading yourself
Soul
Soon your chance at dignity
It will be gone
Everybody gets one life
Yours is almost all used up
Now
And instead of treating yourself
With respect
You have entrusted
Your own happiness
Unto the souls of others
Unto the souls of others