An Even Dozen (Human Needs) Poem by David Whalen

I wondered what the basic needs
Of the average human could be
I know these don’t apply to everyone
But they do apply to me


First on my list: would be nutrition,
the usual food and drink
Second would be: Rest, sleep and relaxation
Third would be the need …
For recognition I should think

Fourth would be… most certainly
The human need for touch
For without the laying on of hands
Life would lack so much

Fifth would be the need for place
A place to call one’s own
A place within the human race
A place that one calls home

Sixth would be acceptance
Of one’s place within the clan
And the mutual understanding
Of exactly where we stand

Seventh is the sense of need
To feel the need to belong
And to also feel that one is needed
And that the need is strong

Eighth on my list is comfort
Comfort within one’s skin
Comfort in where one is in life
Comfort without and within

Ninth would be the need for pleasure
For the body and for the mind
Pleasure of the physical self
Pleasures of the human kind

Goals would be my tenth essential
An additional and necessary need
For a life without ambition Would …
be bland and empty indeed

Satisfaction is number eleven
For unrest on the soul is an onerous weight
While the feeling of satisfaction
Is a most humanly pleasant state

Last, but not least among all of the needs
Of the human animal I’ve listed above
is the combined total of all of those deeds
Last…is peace of mind…and love