Hollow Men - Glosa

Cabeza:*
"We are the hollow men
We are the stuffed men
Leaning together
Headpiece filled with straw. Alas!"
- from The Hollow Men, T. S. Elliot (1925)

In a world of mediocrity
a true individual will shine
like a beacon onto the sea
visible for all ships to see.
Only those who eschew "mine"
stake their own place, then
they stand dry and free
not at mercy to the brine;
but those of us who do not ken:
we are the hollow men.

Be one of fierce demeanor
fill your deeds with intent;
every action, whet it keener,
false desire ever leaner;
strive 'til your soul is spent;
for should you not, when
lured to pastures greener
losing hope for all you meant
you will hear a bleating din:
"We are the stuffed men."

Don't count on any friend
who'd flatter and charm,
only to help you descend,
humanity merely pretend,
or in crises you are disarmed
hurled into roughest weather
lacking force, all hope expend
with worthless ally arm-in-arm
tossed like birds lacking feather,
leaning together.

Stand with purpose, stay resolved
be no one's momentary fad;
true pain will be involved
but so with all that ever evolved;
live with a reason, for good or bad,
mindless pleasure surpass;
all failures in trying are absolved
it is failure to attempt that's mad
for such a man sinks in morass
headpiece filled with straw. Alas!

NOTE
"The Glosa was used by poets of the Spanish court and dates back to the late 14th and early 15th century. .... the traditional structure has two parts. The first part is called the texte or cabeza. It consists of the first few lines (usually four) or the first stanza (usually a quatrain) from a well-known poem or poet. ....

"The second part is the glose or glosa proper. This is a "gloss on," an expansion, interpretation or explanation of the texte. The formal rule describes the glosa as consisting of four ten-line stanzas, with the consecutive lines of the texte being used as the tenth line (called the glossing) of each stanza. Furthermore, lines six and nine must rhyme with the borrowed tenth. Internal features such as length of lines, meter and rhyme are at the discretion of the poet. ...."
[Retrieved 12 February 2012 from http://www.poetry-nut.com/glosa_poetry.htm]

In my effort, the rhyme scheme for each stanza is:

a, b, a, a, b, c, a, b, c, C (being the glossing line).

*Note on Copyright & Glosa Verse: The cabeza falls under the Fair Use Doctrine, while the poem as a whole is a Derivative Work of the original, thereby exempt under two exceptions to copyright law.