Do Not Live a Half-Life

Do Not Live a Half-Life

Do not love half-lovers,

Do not entertain half-friends,

Do not indulge in works of the half-talented.

Do not live half a life,

And do not die a half-death.

If you choose silence, then be silent.

When you speak, do so until you are finished.

Do not silence yourself to say something,

And do not speak only to be silent.

If you accept, then express it bluntly—

Do not mask it.

If you refuse, then be clear about it—

For an ambiguous refusal is but a weak acceptance.

Do not accept half a solution,

Do not believe half-truths,

Do not dream half a dream,

Do not fantasize about half-hopes.

Half a drink will not quench your thirst,

Half a meal will not satiate your hunger,

Half the way will get you nowhere,

Half an idea will bear you no results.

Your other half is not the one you love,

It is you in another time, yet in the same space.

It is you when you are whole, not fragmented.

A half-life is a life you did not live,

A word you did not say,

A smile you postponed,

A love you never embraced,

A friendship you never nurtured.

To reach and not arrive,

To work and not create,

To attend only to be absent—

This is to be a stranger to those closest to you,

And they, strangers to you.

Half is a mere moment of inability,

But you are able.

For you are not half a being.

You are a whole—

You exist to live a life, not half a life.