We Become What Is Begun

We always become what we have begun;
first teetering steps take us from our birth
lead us onward into the rising sun;
the greatest loss is to leave life undone
moldering rot into the sterile earth.

The pursuit of mere happiness or mirth
can not ever make your brief life well run;
nor does the size of your balance sheet worth
hang your legacy up over the hearth;
none of this matters when your tale is spun.

Heed the bellow of the paternal beast,
he guards his children from predator harm;
or see young lady offering her arm
to aged father whose wife is deceased;
surly your very soul these acts must charm.

In peace must all men agree to disarm
and listen to the wise man and the priest
admonish us to shield the very least;
the end of our life should be no alarm
if human's common good we have increased.