Sermon From A Commoner Poem by Venkateswaran Krishnan Sreenivasan

To think less and talk more
Put your mind behind and tongue before
Listen less and preach more
To be an ignorant bore

Talk more and do less
To prove yourself trustless
Read less and write more
To make your readers sore

To know less and boast more
Feign to possess virtues galore
See less and judge more
And fail to see what is in store

Eat more and work less
To be a deadwood amidst the cress
Rest more to rust more
And to sickness open the door

To sleep more and wake less
Be the fable tale princess
Sin more and mend less
To make your labours worthless

Earn less and be a lavish spender
To learn thrift from your lender
To give less and take more
You know not what wealth is for

Care less and err more
To stray from truth and the core
Hurry scurry and fall more
And dare not rise sans furore

Love less and hate more
Attributes gods abhor
Hatred burns itself sooner by its fire
Than its maligned object of ire

Keep your God as your guard
Against evil thoughts and fraud
And surge ahead to do right
With faith in the divine might
Dated November 24,2009