Someone has suggested
there is a third way:

somewhere between selfishness and selflessness,
lies a place
where the need to care for ourselves
balances the need to care for others.

It is the way of selfness.

I need to find this place of selfness,
between the fetal retreat into self-absorption
and the utter loss of self in emotional immolation.

Beloved, lead me to selfness.

Text and image © 2012 by Dirk deVries. All rights reserved.