What's the Right Amount?

What's the Right Amount?

Trust your instincts.

What's the right amount
to say and do,
to read and write,
to work and play,
to eat and drink,
to love, love, love
and then let go?

When I wanted to talk
no one asked me to speak.
Now that I've something to say
I'm reluctant to disturb the peace.

The East calls silence a virtue,
while the West says actions
speak louder than words.
So I've learned to take
the narrow path in-between.
I hold my breathe when necessary
and speak when I'm invited.

---

He that would live in peace and at ease
must not speak all he knows or all he sees.
~ Benjamin Franklin