Sonnet 131, One Learns... Poem by Peter S. Quinn

One learns as long as one can of self give,
Of love and pleasures hidden in the heart;
For all there is it's only worth to live,
When soul and mind are equal in their part.
When it is lost all else is only vain,
It has no freedom in the days to boom;
And all your efforts turn out to be pain,
You are just like the withered summer bloom.
Respect is another pole in true height,
Rejoice of all though it seems little less;
From there then comes another faithful flight,
Of like strength, and likewise is clear progress.
Learning starts from what is hidden along,
And each from there is what is right or wrong.