``Live life, a life of balance,''
said they to one young man;
to this he strived, tried to arrive
as his unfolding life began.

Skinny/fat, he ran and sat,
grueling work and lazy play,
rich/poor, first less then more,
he lived his life this way.

And this life was the wreck of him,
though obvious it seems;
for his life, being well balanced,
was balanced by extremes of balanced means.