We make our way only by degrees.
Here is the letcher still celebrating lust.
And there the monk with his austerities.
Each finds his own purchase as he must.
We make our way only by degrees.
With each grade the world reconstitutes:
the inner attainment transforms the real.
Thus, we cannot appraise the saint's pursuits
until we too become what his acts reveal.
We make our way only by degrees.