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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.12.12.00*END* + + + + + +This etext was produced from the 1913 Gay and Hancock edition by +David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk + + + + + +POEMS OF PROGRESS + +by Ella Wheeler Wilcox + + + + +Contents: + +Preface +The Land Between +Love's Mirage +The Need of the World +The Gulf Stream +Remembered +Helen of Troy +Lais when Young +Lais when Old +Existence +Holiday Songs +Astrolabius +Completion +Sleep's Treachery +Art versus Cupid +The Revolt of Vashti +The Choosing of Esther +Honeymoon Scene +The Cost +The Voice +God's Answer +The Edict of the Sex +The World-child +The Heights +On seeing 'The House of Julia' at Herculaneum +A Prayer +What is Right Living? +Justice +Time's Gaze +The Worker and the Work +Art thou Alive? +To-day +The Ladder +Who is a Christian? +The Goal +The Spur +Awakened! +Shadows +The New Commandment +Summer Dreams +The Breaking of Chains +December +'The Way' +The Leader to be +The Greater Love +Thank God for Life +Time Enough +New Year's Day +Life is a Privilege +In an Old Art Gallery +True Brotherhood +The Decadent +Lord, speak again +My Heaven +Life +God's Kin +Conquest +The Statue +Sirius +At Fontainebleau +The Masquerade +Sympathy +Intermediary +Life's Car +Opportunity +The Age of Motored Things +New Year +Disarmament +The Call +A Little Song + + + +PREFACE: LOVE'S LANGUAGE + + + +When silence flees before the voice of Love, +Of what expression does that god approve? +Is dulcet song or flowing verse his choice, +Or stately prose, made regal by his voice? +Speaks Love in couplets, or in epics grand? +And is Love humble, or does he command? + +There is no language that Love does not speak: +To-day commanding and to-morrow meek, +One hour laconic and the next verbose, +With hope triumphant and with doubt morose, +His varying moods all forms of speech employ. +To give expression to his painful joy, + +To voice the phases of his joyful pain, +He rings the changes on the poet's strain. +Yet not in epic, epigram or verse +Can Love the passion of his heart rehearse. +All speech, all language, is inadequate, +There are no words with Love commensurate. + + + +THE LAND BETWEEN + + + +Between the little Here and larger Yonder, + There is a realm (or so one day I read) +Where faithful spirits love-enchained may wander, + Till some remembering soul from earth has fled. +Then, reunited, they go forth afar, +From sphere to sphere, where wondrous angels are. + +Not many spirits in that realm are waiting; + Not many pause upon its shores to rest; +For only love, intense and unabating, + Can hold them from the longer, higher quest. +And after grief has wept itself to sleep, +Few hearts on earth their vital memories keep. + +Should I pass on, across the mystic border, + Let thy love link me to that pallid land; +I would not seek the heavens of finer order + Until thy barque had left this coarser strand. +How desolate such journeyings would be, +Though straight to Him, were they not shared by thee. + +Wert thou first called (dear God, how could I bear it?) + I should enchain thee with my love, I know. +Not great enough am I to free thy spirit + From all these tender ties, and bid thee go. +Nor would a soul, unselfish as thine own, +Forget so soon, and speed to heaven alone. + +On earth we find no joy in ways diverging; + How could we find it in the worlds unseen? +I know old memories from my bosom surging, + Would keep thee waiting in that Land Between, +Until together, side by side, we trod +A path of stars, in our great search for God. + + + +LOVE'S MIRAGE + + + +Midway upon the route, he paused athirst + And suddenly across the wastes of heat, + He saw cool waters gleaming, and a sweet +Green oasis upon his vision burst. +A tender dream, long in his bosom nursed, + Spread love's illusive verdure for his feet; + The barren sands changed into golden wheat; +The way grew glad that late had seemed accursed. + +She shone, the woman wonder, on his soul; + The garden spot, for which men toil and wait; + The house of rest, that is each heart's demand; +But when, at last, he reached the gleaming goal, + He found, oh, cruel irony of fate, + But desert sun upon the desert sand. + + + +THE NEED OF THE WORLD + + + +I know the need of the world, + Though it would not have me know. +It would hide its sorrow deep, + Where only God may go. +Yet its secret it can not keep; +It tells it awake, or asleep, +It tells it to all who will heed, +And he who runs may read. + The need of the world I know. + +I know the need of the world, + When it boasts of its wealth the loudest, +When it flaunts it in all men's eyes, + When its mien is the gayest and proudest. +Oh! ever it lies--it lies, +For the sound of its laughter dies +In a sob and a smothered moan, +And it weeps when it sits alone. + The need of the world I know. + +I know the need of the world. + When the earth shakes under the tread +Of men who march to the fight, + When rivers with blood are red +And there is no law but might, +And the wrong way seems the right; +When he who slaughters the most +Is all men's pride and boast. + The need of the world I know. + +I know the need of the world. + When it babbles of gold and fame, +It is only to lead us astray + From the thing that it dare not name, +For this is the sad world's way. +Oh! poor blind world grown grey +With the need of a thing so near, +With the want of a thing so dear. + The need of the world I know. + +The need of the world is love. + Deep under the pride of power, +Down under its lust of greed, + For the joys that last but an hour, +There lies forever its need. +For love is the law and the creed +And love is the unnamed goal +Of life, from man to the mole. + Love is the need of the world. + + + +THE GULF STREAM + + + +Skilled mariner, and counted sane and wise, + That was a curious thing which chanced to me, + So good a sailor on so fair a sea. +With favouring winds and blue unshadowed skies, +Led by the faithful beacon of Love's eyes, + Past reef and shoal, my life-boat bounded free + And fearless of all changes that might be +Under calm waves, where many a sunk rock lies. + +A golden dawn; yet suddenly my barque + Strained at the sails, as in a cyclone's blast; + And battled with an unseen current's force, +For we had entered when the night was dark + That old tempestuous Gulf Stream of the Past. + But for love's eyes, I had not kept the course. + + +REMEMBERED + + + +His art was loving; Eres set his sign + Upon that youthful forehead, and he drew + The hearts of women, as the sun draws dew. +Love feeds love's thirst as wine feeds love of wine; +Nor is there any potion from the vine + Which makes men drunken like the subtle brew + Of kisses crushed by kisses; and he grew +Inebriated with that draught divine. + +Yet in his sober moments, when the sun + Of radiant summer paled to lonely fall, + And passion's sea had grown an ebbing tide, +From out the many, Memory singled one + Full cup that seemed the sweetest of them all - + The warm red mouth that mocked him and denied. + + +HELEN OF TROY +ON THE ISLE OF CRANAE + + + +The world an abject vassal to her charms, +And kings competing for a single smile, +Yet love she knew not, till upon this isle +She gave surrender to abducting arms. +Not Theseus, who plucked her lips' first kiss, + Not Menelaus, lawful mate and spouse, + Such answering passion in her heart could rouse, +Or wake such tumult in her soul as this. +Let come what will, let Greece and Asia meet, + Let heroes die and kingdoms run with gore; + Let devastation spread from shore to shore - +Resplendent Helen finds her bondage sweet. +The whole world fights her battles, while she lies +Sunned in the fervour of young Paris' eyes. + +ON THE ISLE OF RHODES + +The battles ended, ardent Paris dead, + Of faithful Menelaus long bereft, + Time is the only suitor who is left: +Helen survives, with youth and beauty fled. +By hate remembered, but by love forgot, + Dethroned and driven from her high estate, + Unhappy Helen feels the lash of Fate +And knows at last an unloved woman's lot. +The Grecian marvel, and the Trojan joy, + The world's fair wonder, from her palace flies + The furies follow, and great Helen dies, +A death of horror, for the pride of Troy. + +* * * + +Yet Time, like Menelaus, all forgives. +Helen, immortal in her beauty, lives. + + + +LAIS WHEN YOUNG + + + +Lais when young, and all her charms in flower, + Lais, whose beauty was the fateful light + That led great ships to anchor in the night +And bring their priceless cargoes to her bower, +Lais yet found her cup of sweet turned sour. + Great Plato's pupil, from his lofty height, + Zenocrates, unmoved, had seen the white +Sweet wonder of her, and defied her power. + +She snared the world in nets of subtle wiles: + The proud, the famed, all clamoured at her gate; + Dictators plead, inside her portico; +Wisdom sought madness, in her favouring smiles; + Now was she made the laughing-stock of fate: + One loosed her clinging arms, and bade her go. + + + +LAIS WHEN OLD + + + +Lais, when old and all her beauty gone, +Lais, the erstwhile courted pleasure queen, +Walked homeless through Corinth. + One mocked her mien - +One tossed her coins; she took them and passed on. +Down by the harbour sloped a terraced lawn, + Where fountains played; she paused to view the scene. + A marble palace stood in bowers of green +'Twas here of old she revelled till the dawn. + +Through yonder portico her lovers came - + Hero and statesman, athlete, merchant, sage; + They flung the whole world's treasures at her feet +To buy her favour and exalt her shame. + +* * * + +She spat upon her dole of coins in rage + And faded like a phantom down the street. + + + +EXISTENCE + + + +You are here, and you are wanted, + Though a waif upon life's stair; +Though the sunlit hours are haunted + With the shadowy shapes of care. +Still the Great One, the All-Seeing +Called your spirit into being - +Gave you strength for any fate. +Since your life by Him was needed, +All your ways by Him are heeded - + You can trust and you can wait. + +You can wait to know the meaning + Of the troubles sent your soul; +Of the chasms intervening + 'Twixt your purpose and your goal; +Of the sorrows and the trials, +Of the silence and denials, + Ofttimes answering to your pleas; +Of the stinted sweets of pleasure, +And of pain's too generous measure - + You can wait the WHY of these. + +Forth from planet unto planet, + You have gone, and you will go. +Space is vast, but we must span it; + For life's purpose is TO KNOW. +Earth retains you but a minute, +Make the best of what lies in it; + Light the pathway where you are. +There is nothing worth the doing +That will leave regret or rueing, + As you speed from star to star. + +You are part of the Beginning, + You are parcel of To-day. +When He set His world to spinning + You were flung upon your way. +When the system falls to pieces, +When this pulsing epoch ceases, + When the IS becomes the WAS, +You will live, for you will enter +In the great Creative Centre, + In the All-Enduring Cause. + + + +HOLIDAY SONGS + + + +I + +Sailing away on a summer sea, + Out of the bleak March weather; +Drifting away for a loaf and play, + Just you and I together; +And it's good-bye worry and good-bye hurry +And never a care have we; +With the sea below and the sun above +And nothing to do but dream and love, + Sailing away together. + +Sailing away from the grim old town + And tasks the town calls duty; +Sailing away from walls of grey + To a land of bloom and beauty, +And it's good-bye to letters from our lessers and our betters, +To the cold world's smile or its frown. +We sail away on a sunny track +To find the summer and bring it back + And love is our only duty. + +II + +Afloat on a sea of passion + Without a compass or chart, +But the glow of your eye shows the sun is high, + By the sextant of my heart. +I know we are nearing the tropics + By the languor that round us lies, +And the smile on your mouth says the course is south + And the port is Paradise. + +We have left grey skies behind us, + We sail under skies of blue; +You are off with me on lovers' sea, + And I am away with you. +We have not a single sorrow, + And I have but one fear - +That my lips may miss one offered kiss + From the mouth that is smiling near. + +There is no land of winter; + There is no world of care; +There is bloom and mirth all over the earth, + And love, love everywhere. +Our boat is the barque of Pleasure, + And whatever port we sight +The touch of your hand will make the land + The Harbour of Pure Delight. + + + +ASTROLABIUS +(THE CHILD OF ABELARD AND HELOISE) + + + +I wrenched from a passing comet in its flight, + By that great force of two mad hearts aflame, + A soul incarnate, back to earth you came, +To glow like star-dust for a little night. +Deep shadows hide you wholly from our sight; + The centuries leave nothing but your name, + Tinged with the lustre of a splendid shame, +That blazed oblivion with rebellious light. + +The mighty passion that became your cause, + Still burns its lengthening path across the years; + We feel its raptures, and we see its tears +And ponder on its retributive laws. + Time keeps that deathless story ever new; + Yet finds no answer, when we ask of you. + +II + +At Argenteuil, I saw the lonely cell + Where Heloise dreamed through her broken rest, + That baby lips pulled at her undried breast. +It needed but my woman's heart to tell +Of those long vigils and the tears that fell + When aching arms reached out in fruitless quest, + As after flight, wings brood an empty nest. +(So well I know that sorrow, ah, so well.) + +Across the centuries there comes no sound + Of that vast anguish; not one sigh or word + Or echo of the mother loss has stirred, +The sea of silence, lasting and profound. + Yet to each heart, that once has felt this grief, + Sad Memory restores Time's missing leaf. + +III + +But what of you? Who took the mother's place + When sweet expanding love its object sought? + Was there a voice to tell her tragic lot, +And did you ever look upon her face? +Was yours a cloistered seeking after grace? + Or in the flame of adolescent thought + Were Abelard's departed passions caught +To burn again in you and leave their trace? + +Conceived in nature's bold primordial way + (As in their revolutions, suns create), + You came to earth, a soul immaculate, +Baptized in fire, with some great part to play. + What was that part, and wherefore hid from us, + Immortal mystery, Astrolabius! + + + +COMPLETION + + + +When I shall meet God's generous dispensers + Of all the riches in the heavenly store, +Those lesser gods, who act as Recompensers + For loneliness and loss upon this shore, +Methinks abashed, and somewhat hesitating, + My soul its wish and longing will declare. +Lest they reply: 'Here are no bounties waiting: + We gave on earth, your portion and your share.' + +Then shall I answer: 'Yea, I do remember + The many blessings to my life allowed; +My June was always longer than December, + My sun was always stronger than my cloud, +My joy was ever deeper than my sorrow, + My gain was ever greater than my loss, +My yesterday seemed less than my to-morrow, + The crown looked always larger than the cross. + +'I have known love, in all its radiant splendour, + It shone upon my pathway to the end. +I trod no road that did not bloom with tender + And fragrant blossoms, planted by some friend. +And those material things we call successes, + In modest measure, crowned my earthly lot. +Yet was there one sweet happiness that blesses + The life of woman, which to me came not. + +'I knew the hope of motherhood; a season + I felt a fluttering heart beat 'neath my own; +A little cry--then silence. For that reason + I dare, to you, my only wish make known. +The babe who grew to angelhood in heaven, + I never watched unfold from child to man. +And so I ask, that unto me be given + That motherhood, which was God's primal plan. + +'All womankind He meant to share its glories; + He meant us all to nurse our babes to rest. +To croon them songs, to tell them sleepy stories, + Else why the wonder of a woman's breast? +He must provide for all earth's cheated mothers + In His vast heavens of shining sphere on sphere, +And with my son, there must be many others - + My spirit children who will claim me here. + +'Fair creatures by my loving thoughts created - + Too finely fashioned for a mortal birth - +Between the borders of two worlds they waited + Until they saw my spirit leave the earth. +In God's great nursery they must be waiting + To welcome me with many an infant wile. +Now let me go and satisfy this longing + To mother children for a little while.' + + + +SLEEP'S TREACHERY + + + +As the grey twilight, tiptoed down the deep + And shadowy valley, to the day's dark end, + She whom I thought my ever-faithful friend, +Fair-browed, calm-eyed and mother-bosomed Sleep, +Met me with smiles. 'Poor longing heart, I keep + Sweet joy for you,' she murmured. 'I will send + One whom you love, with your own soul to blend +In visions, as the night hours onward creep.' + +I trusted her; and watched by starry beams, + I slumbered soundly, free from all alarms. + Then not my love, but one long banished came, +Led by false Sleep, down secret stairs of dreams + And clasped me, unresisting in fond arms. + Oh, treacherous sleep--to sell me to such shame! + + + +ART VERSUS CUPID + + + +[A room in a private house. A maiden sitting before a fire +meditating.] + +MAIDEN + +Now have I fully fixed upon my part. +Good-bye to dreams; for me a life of art! +Beloved art! Oh, realm serene and fair, +Above the mean and sordid world of care, +Above earth's small ambitions and desires! +Art! art! the very word my soul inspires! +From foolish memories it sets me free. +Not what has been, but that which is to be +Absorbs me now. Adieu to vain regret! +The bow is tensely drawn--the target set. +[A knock at the door.] + +MAID (aside) + +The night is dark and chill; the hour is late. +(Aloud) +Who knocks upon my door? + +A Voice Outside + +'Tis I, your fate! + +MAID + +Thou dost deceive, not me, but thine own self. +My fate is not a wandering, vagrant elf. +My fate is here, within this throbbing heart +That beats alone for glory, and for art. + +Voice +[Another knock at door.] + +Pray, let me in; I am so faint and cold. +[Door is pushed ajar. Enter CUPID, who aproaches the fire with +outstretched hands.] + +MAID (indignantly) + +Methinks thou art not faint, however cold, +But rather too courageous, and most bold; +Surprisingly ill-mannered, sir, and rude, +Without an invitation to intrude +Into my very presence. + +CUPID (warming his hands) + + But, you see, +Girls never mind a little chap like me. +They're always watching for me on the sly, +And hoping I will call. + +MAID (haughtily) + + Indeed, not I! +My heart has listened to a sweeter voice, +A clarion call that gives command--not choice. +And I have answered to that call, 'I come'; +To other voices shall my ears be dumb. +To art alone I consecrate my life - +Art is my spouse, and I his willing wife. + +CUPID (slowly, gazing in the grate) + +Art is a sultan, and you must divide +His love with many another ill-fed bride. +Now I know one who worships you alone. + +MAID (impatiently) + +I will not listen! for the dice is thrown +And art has won me. On my brow some day +Shall rest the laurel wreath-- + +CUPID (sitting down and looking at MAID critically) + + Just let me say +I think sweet orange blossoms under lace +Are better suited to your type of face. + +MAID (ignoring interruption) + +I yet shall stand before an audience +That listens as one mind, absorbed, intense, +And with my genius I shall rouse its cheers, +Still it to silence, soften it to tears, +Or wake its laughter. Oh, the play! the play! +The play's the thing! My boy, THE PLAY!! + +CUPID (suddenly clapping his hands) + + Oh, say! +I know a splendid role for you to take, +And one that always keeps the house awake - +And calls for pretty dressing. Oh, it's great! + +MAID (excitedly) + +Well, well, what is it? Wherefore make me wait? + +CUPID (tapping his brow, thoughtfully) + +How is it those lines run--oh, now I know; +You make a stately entrance--measured--slow-- +To stirring music, then you kneel and say +Something about--to honour and obey - +For better and for worse--till death do part. + +MAID (angrily) + +Be still, you foolish boy; that is not ART. + +CUPID (seriously) + +She needs great skill who takes the role of wife +In God's stupendous drama human life. + +MAID (suddenly becoming serious) + +So I once thought! Oh, once my very soul +Was filled and thrilled with dreaming of that role. +Life seemed so wonderful; it held for me +No purpose, no ambition, but to be +Loving and loved. My highest thought of fame +Was some day bearing my dear lover's name. +Alone, I ofttimes uttered it aloud, +Or wrote it down, half timid, and all proud +To see myself lost utterly in him: +As some small star might joy in growing dim +When sinking in the sun; or as the dew, +Forgetting the brief little life it knew +In space, might on the ocean's bosom fall +And ask for nothing--only to give all. + +CUPID (aside) + +Now, THAT'S the talk--it's music to my ear +After that stuff on 'art' and a 'career.' +I hope she'll keep it up. + +MAIDEN (continuing her reverie) + + Again my dream +Shaped into changing pictures. I would seem +To see myself in beautiful array +Move down the aisle upon my wedding day; +And then I saw the modest living-room +With lighted lamp, and fragrant plants in bloom, +And books and sewing scattered all about, +And just we two alone. + +CUPID (in glee aside) + + There's not a doubt +I'll land her yet! + +MAIDEN + + My dream kaleidoscope +Changed still again, and framed love's dearest hope - +The trinity of home; and life was good +And all its deepest meaning understood. + +[Sits lost in a dream. Behind scenes a voice sings a lullaby, +'Beautiful Land of Nod.' CUPID in ecstasy tiptoes about and clasps +his hands in delight.] + +Another scene! a matron in her prime, +I saw myself glide peacefully with time +Into the quiet middle years, content +With simple joys the dear home circle lent. +My sons and daughters made my diadem; +I saw my happy youth renewed in them. +The pain of growing old lost all its sting, +For Love stood near--in Winter, as in Spring. + +[CUPID tiptoes to door and makes a signal. MAIDEN starts up +dramatically.] + +'Twas but a dream! I woke all suddenly. +The world had changed! And now life means to me +My art--the stage--excitement and the crowd - +The glare of many foot-lights--and the loud +Applause of men, as I cry in rage, +'Give me the dagger!' or creep down the stage +In that sleep-walking scene. Oh, art like mine +Will send the chills down every listener's spine! +And when I choose, salt tears shall freely flow +As in the moonlight I cry, 'Romeo! Romeo! +Oh, wherefore art thou, Romeo?' + Ay, 'tis done +My dream of home life. + +CUPID + + It is but begun. + +MAIDEN + +The heart but once can dream a dream so fair, +And so henceforth love thoughts I do forswear; +Since faith in love has crumbled to the dust, +In fame alone, I put my hope and trust. + +[CUPID at the door beckons excitedly. Enter lover with outstretched +arms.] + +CUPID + +Here's one who will explain yourself to you +And make that old sweet dream of love come true. +Fix up your foolish quarrel; time is brief - +So waste no more of it in doubt or grief. + +[The lovers meet and embrace.] + +CUPID (in doorway) + +Warm lip to lip, and heart to beating heart, +The cast is made--My Lady has her part. + +CURTAIN + + + +THE REVOLT OF VASHTI +(FROM THE DRAMA OF MIZPAH) + + + +AHASUERAS + +Is this the way to greet thy loving spouse, +But now returned from scenes of blood and strife? +I pray thee raise thy veil and let me gaze +Upon that beauty which hath greater power +To conquer me than all the arts of war! + +VASHTI + +My beauty! Ay, my BEAUTY! I do hold, +In thy regard, no more an honoured place +Than yonder marble pillar, or the gold +And jewelled wine-cup which thy lips caress. +Thou wouldst degrade me in the people's sight! + +AHASUERAS + +Degrade thee, Vashti? Rather do I seek +To show my people who are gathered here +How, as the consort of so fair a queen, +I feel more pride than as the mighty king: +For there be many rulers on the earth, +But only ONE such queen. Come, raise thy veil! + +VASHTI + +Ay! only ONE such queen! A queen is one +Who shares her husband's greatness and his throne. +I am no more than yonder dancing girl +Who struts and smirks before a royal court! +But I will loose my veil and loose my tongue! +Now listen, sire--my master and my king; +And let thy princes and the court give ear! +'Tis time all heard how Vashti feels her shame. + +AHASUERAS + +Shame is no word to couple with thy name! +Shame and a spotless woman may not meet, +Even in a sentence. Choose another word. + +VASHTI + +Ay, SHAME, my lord--there is no synonym +That can give voice to my ignoble state. +To be a thing for eyes to gaze upon, +Yet held an outcast from thy heart and mind; +To hear my beauty praised but not my worth; +To come and go at Pleasure's beck and call, +While barred from Wisdom's conclaves! Think ye THAT +A noble calling for a noble dame? +Why, any concubine amongst thy train +Could play my royal part as well as I - +Were she as fair! + +AHASUERAS + + Queen Vashti, art thou MAD? +I would behead another did he dare +To so besmirch thee with comparison. + +VASHTI (to the court) + +Gaze now your fill! Behold Queen Vashti's eyes! +How large they gleam beneath her inch of brow! +How like a great white star, her splendid face +Shines through the midnight forest of her hair! +And see the crushed pomegranate of her mouth! +Observe her arms, her throat, her gleaming breasts, +Whereon the royal jewels rise and fall! - +And note the crescent curving of her hips, +And lovely limbs suggested 'neath her robes! +Gaze, gaze, I say, for these have made her queen! +She hath no mind, no heart, no dignity, +Worth royal recognition and regard; +But her fair body approbation meets +And whets the sated appetite of kings! +Now ye have seen what she was bid to show. +The queen hath played her part and begs to go. + +AHASUERAS + +Ay, Vashti, go and never more return! +Not only hast thou wronged thine own true lord, +And mocked and shamed me in the people's eyes, +But thou hast wronged all princes and all men +By thy pernicious and rebellious ways. +Queens act and subjects imitate. So let +Queen Vashti weigh her conduct and her words, +Or be no more called 'queen!' + +VASHTI + +I was a princess ere I was a queen, +And worthy of a better fate than this! +There lies the crown that made me queen in name! +Here stands the woman--wife in name alone! +Now, no more queen--nor wife--but woman still - +Ay, and a woman strong enough to be +Her own avenger. + + + +THE CHOOSING OF ESTHER +(FROM THE DRAMA OF MIZPAH) + + + +AHASUERAS + +Tell me thy name! + +ESTHER + +My name, great sire, is Esther. + +AHASUERAS + +So thou art Esther? Esther! 'tis a name +Breathed into sound as softly as a sigh. +A woman's name should melt upon the lips +Like Love's first kisses, and thy countenance +Is fit companion for so sweet a name! + +ESTHER + +Thou art most kind. I would my name and face +Were mine own making and not accident. +Then I might feel elated at thy praise, +Where now I feel confusion. + +AHASUERAS + + Thou hast wit +As well as beauty, Esther. Both are gems +That do embellish woman in man's sight. +Yet they are gems of second magnitude! +Dost THOU possess the one great perfect gem - +The matchless jewel of the world called LOVE? + +ESTHER + +Sire, in the heart of every woman dwells +That wondrous perfect gem! + +AHASUERAS + + Then, Esther, speak! +And tell me what is LOVE! I fain would know +Thy definition of that much-mouthed word, +By woman most employed--least understood. + +ESTHER + +What can a humble Jewish maiden know +That would instruct a warrior and a king? +I have but dreamed of love as maidens will +While thou hast known its fulness. All the world +Loves Great Ahasueras! + +AHASUERAS + + All the world +FEARS GREAT Ahasueras! Kings, my child, +Are rarely loved as anything but kings. +Love, as I see it in the court and camp, +Means seeking royal favour. I would know +How love is fashioned in a maiden's dreams. + +ESTHER + +Sire, love seeks nothing that kings can bestow. +Love is the king of all kings here below; +Love makes the monarch but a bashful boy, +Love makes the peasant monarch in his joy; +Love seeks not place, all places are the same, +When lighted by the radiance of love's flame. +Who deems proud love could fawn to power and splendour +Hath known not love, but some base-born pretender. + +AHASUERAS + +If this be love, I would know more of it. +Speak on, fair Esther! What is love beside? + +ESTHER + +Love is in all things, all things are in love. +Love is the earth, the sea, the skies above; +Love is the bird, the blossom, and the wind; +Love hath a million eyes, yet love is blind; +Love is a tempest, awful in its might; +Love is the silence of a moon-lit night; +Love is the aim of every human soul; +And he who hath not loved hath missed life's goal! + +AHASUERAS + +But tell me of thyself, of thine own dreams! +How wouldst thou love, and how be loved again? + +ESTHER + +Who most doth love thinks least of love's return; +She is content to feel the passion burn +In her own bosom, and its sacred fire +Consumes each selfish purpose and desire. +'Tis in the giving, love's best rapture lies, +Not in the counting of the things it buys. + +AHASUERAS + +Yet, is there not vast anguish and despair +In love that finds no answering word or smile? + +ESTHER + +So radiant is love, it lends a glow +To each dark sorrow and to every woe. +To love completely is to part with pain, +Nor is there mortal who can love in vain. +Love is its own reward, it pays full measure, +And in love's sharpest grief lies subtlest pleasure. + +AHASUERAS + +Methinks, a mighty warrior, lord or king +Must in thy fancy play the lover's part; +None else could wake such reverential thought. + +ESTHER + +When woman loves one born of lowly state, +Her thought gives crown and sceptre to her mate; +Yet be he king, or chief of some great clan, +She loves him but as woman loves a man. +Monarch or peasant, 'tis the same, I wis +When once she gives him love's surrendering kiss. + + + +HONEYMOON SCENE +(FROM THE DRAMA OF MIZPAH) + + + +AHASUERAS + +What were thy thoughts, sweet Esther? Something passed +Across thy face, that for a moment veiled +Thy soul from mine, and left me desolate. +Thy thoughts were not of me? + +ESTHER + + Ay, ALL of thee! +I wondered, if in truth, thou wert content +With me--thy choice. Was there no other one +Of all who passed before thee at thy court +Whose memory pursues thee with regret? + +AHASUERAS + +I do confess I much regret that day +And wish I could relive it. + +ESTHER + + Oh! My lord! + +AHASUERAS + +Yea! I regret those hours I wasted on +The poor procession that preceded thee. +Hadst thou come first, then all the added wealth + + Of one long day of loving thee were mine - +A boundless fortune squandered. Though I live +To three score years and ten, as I do hope, +In wedded love beside thee, that one day +Was filched from me and cannot be restored. + +ESTHER + +And then to think how frightened and abashed +I hung outside thy gates from early morn, +Not daring to go in and meet thine eyes, +Till pitying twilight clothed me in her veil, +And evening walked beside me to thy door. + +AHASUERAS + +So it was thou, fair thief, who stole that day, +And made me poorer, by--how many hours? + +ESTHER + +Full eight, I think. They seemed a hundred then, +And now time flies a hundred times too fast. + +AHASUERAS + +Then eight more kisses do I claim from thee, +This very hour--first tithes of many due. +I shall exact these payments as I will, +And if they be not ready on demand, +I'll lock thee in the prison of my arms, +Like this--and take them so--and so--and so! + +ESTHER + +But kings must think of other things than love +And live for other aims than happiness. +I would not drag thee from thy altitude +Of mighty ruler and great conqueror +To chain thee by my side. + +AHASUERAS + + Such slavery +Would please me better than to conquer earth +Without thee, Esther. I have stood on heights +And heard the cheers of multitudes below; +Have known the loneliness of being great. +Now, let me live and love thee, like a man, +Forgetting I am king - +I am content. + +ESTHER + +Content is not the pathway to great deeds. +As man, I hold thee higher than all kings; +As king, thou must stand higher than all men +In other eyes. Let no one say of me: +'She spoiled his greatness by her littleness; +She made a languorous lover of a king, +And silenced war-cries on commanding lips - +With honeyed kisses; made her woman's arms +Preferred to armour, and her couch to tents, +Until the kingdom, with no guiding hand, +Plunged down to ruin.' + +AHASUERAS + + Thou wouldst have me go - +So soon thy heart hath wearied? + +ESTHER + +My heart is bursting with its love for thee! +Canst thou not feel its fervour? But great men +Need wiser guidance than a woman's heart. +My pride in thee is equal to my love, +And I would have thee greater than thou art - +Ay, greater than all other men on earth - +Though forced long years to feed my hungry heart +On food of memories and wine of tears, +Wert thou but winning glory and renown. + +AHASUERAS + +Thou art most noble, Esther; thou art fit +To be the consort of a king of kings. +But I have chewed upon ambition's husks +And starved for love through all my manhood's years; +And now the mighty gods have seen it fit +To spread love's banquet and to name thee host, +May I not feast my fill? O Esther, take +The tempting nectar of those lips away +And give me wine to rouse the brute in me, +To make me thirst for blood instead of love! +Wine! Wine! I say! + +ESTHER + + Ahasueras, wait! +Methinks good music is wine turned to sound. +Here comes thy minstrel with an offering +Pressed from the ripened fruit of my fond heart. +Mine own the words and mine the melody +And may it linger longer in thine ear +Than on thy lip would stay the taste of wine. +Sing on! + +MINSTREL + +When from the field returning, +Love is a warrior's yearning, +Love in his heart is burning, + Love is his dream. +Talk not to him of glory, +Speak not of faces gory, +Sing of love's tender story, + Make it thy theme. +Sing of his lady's tresses, +Sing of the smile that blesses, +Sing of the sweet caresses, + And yet again +Sing of fair children's faces, +Sing of the dear home graces, +Sing till the vacant places, + Ring with thy strain. +Yet as the days go speeding, +Shall he arise unheeding +Love songs or words of pleading, + Strong in his might! +Helmet and armour wearing, +Hies he to deeds of daring, +Forth to the battle faring, + Back to the fight. +Sing now of ranks contending, +Sing of loud voices blending, +Sing of great warriors sending + Death to their foes! +Sing of war missiles humming, +Strike into martial drumming, +Sing of great victory coming, + As forth he goes. +Back to the battle faring, +Back into deeds of daring, + Back to the fight. + +AHASUERAS + +No less a lover but a greater man, +A better warrior and a nobler king, +I will be from this hour for thy dear sake. + + + +THE COST + + + +God finished woman in the twilight hour +And said, 'To-morrow thou shalt find thy place: +Man's complement, the mother of the race - + With love the motive power - + The one compelling power.' + +All night she dreamed and wondered. With the light +Her lover came--and then she understood +The purpose of her being. Life was good + And all the world seemed right - + And nothing was, but right. + +She had no wish for any wider sway: +By all the questions of the world unvexed, +Supremely loving and superbly sexed, + She passed upon her way - + Her feminine fair way. + +But God neglected, when He fashioned man, +To fuse the molten splendour of his mind +With that sixth sense He gave to womankind. + And so He marred His plan - + Ay, marred His own great plan. + +She asked so little, and so much she gave, +That man grew selfish: and she soon became, +To God's great sorrow and the whole world's shame, + Man's sweet and patient slave - + His uncomplaining slave. + +Yet in the nights (oh! nights so dark and long) +She clasped her little children to her breast +And wept. And in her anguish of unrest + She thought upon her wrong; + She knew how great her wrong. + +And one sad hour, she said unto her heart, +'Since thou art cause of all my bitter pain, +I bid thee abdicate the throne: let brain + Rule now, and do his part - + His masterful, strong part.' + +She wept no more. By new ambition stirred +Her ways led out, to regions strange and vast. +Men stood aside and watched, dismayed, aghast, + And all the world demurred - + Misjudged her, and demurred. + +Still on and up, from sphere to widening sphere, +Till thorny paths bloomed with the rose of fame. +Who once demurred, now followed with acclaim: + The hiss died in the cheer - + The loud applauding cheer. + +She stood triumphant in that radiant hour, +Man's mental equal, and competitor. +But ah! the cost! from out the heart of her + Had gone love's motive power - + Love's all-compelling power. + + + +THE VOICE + + + +I dreamed a Voice, of one God-authorised, +Cried loudly thro' the world, 'Disarm! Disarm!' +And there was consternation in the camps; +And men who strutted under braid and lace +Beat on their medalled breasts, and wailed, 'Undone!' +The word was echoed from a thousand hills, +And shop and mill, and factory and forge, +Where throve the awful industries of death, +Hushed into silence. Scrawled upon the doors, +The passer read, 'Peace bids her children starve.' +But foolish women clasped their little sons +And wept for joy, not reasoning like men. + +Again the Voice commanded: 'Now go forth +And build a world for Progress and for Peace. +This work has waited since the earth was shaped; +But men were fighting, and they could not toil. +The needs of life outnumber needs of death. +Leave death with God. Go forth, I say, and build.' + +And then a sudden, comprehensive joy +Shone in the eyes of men; and one who thought +Only of conquests and of victories +Woke from his gloomy reverie and cried, +'Ay, come and build! I challenge all to try. +And I will make a world more beautiful +Than Eden was before the serpent came.' +And like a running flame on western wilds, +Ambition spread from mind to listening mind, +And lo! the looms were busy once again, +And all the earth resounded with men's toil. + +Vast palaces of Science graced the world; +Their banquet tables spread with feasts of truth +For all who hungered. Music kissed the air, +Once rent with boom of cannons. Statues gleamed +From wooded ways, where ambushed armies hid +In times of old. The sea and air were gay +With shining sails that soared from land to land. +A universal language of the world +Made nations kin, and poverty was known + +But as a word marked 'obsolete,' like war. +The arts were kindled with celestial fire; +New poets sang so Homer's fame grew dim; +And brush and chisel gave the wondering race +Sublimer treasures than old Greece displayed. +Men differed still; fierce argument arose, +For men are human in this human sphere; +But unarmed Arbitration stood between +And Reason settled in a hundred hours +What War disputed for a hundred years. + +Oh, that a Voice, of one God-authorised +Might cry to all mankind, Disarm! Disarm! + + + +GOD'S ANSWER + + + +Once in a time of trouble and of care +I dreamed I talked with God about my pain; +With sleepland courage, daring to complain +Of what I deemed ungracious and unfair. +'Lord, I have grovelled on my knees in prayer + Hour after hour,' I cried; 'yet all in vain; + No hand leads up to heights I would attain, +No path is shown me out of my despair.' + +Then answered God: 'Three things I gave to thee - + Clear brain, brave will, and strength of mind and heart, + All implements divine, to shape the way. +Why shift the burden of thy toil on Me? + Till to the utmost he has done his part + With all his might, let no man DARE to pray.' + + + +THE EDICT OF THE SEX + + + +Two thousand years had passed since Christ was born, +When suddenly there rose a mighty host +Of women, sweeping to a central goal +As many rivers sweep on to the sea. +They came from mountains, valleys, and from coasts, +And from all lands, all nations, and all ranks, +Speaking all languages, but thinking one. +And that one language--Peace. + + 'Listen,' they said, +And straightway was there silence on the earth, +For men were dumb with wonder and surprise. +'Listen, O mighty masters of the world, +And hear the edict of all womankind: +Since Christ His new commandment gave to men, +LOVE ONE ANOTHER, full two thousand years +Have passed away, yet earth is red with blood. +The strong male rulers of the world proclaim +Their weakness, when we ask that war shall cease. +Now will the poor weak women of the world +Proclaim their strength, and say that war shall end. +Hear, then, our edict: Never from this day +Will any woman on the crust of earth +Mother a warrior. We have sworn the oath +And will go barren to the waiting tomb +Rather than breed strong sons at war's behest, +Or bring fair daughters into life, to bear +The pains of travail, for no end but war. +Ay! let the race die out for lack of babes +Better a dying race than endless wars! +Better a silent world than noise of guns +And clash of armies. + + 'Long we asked for peace, +And oft you promised--but to fight again. +At last you told us, war must ever be +While men existed, laughing at our plea +For the disarmament of all mankind. +Then in our hearts flamed such a mad desire +For peace on earth, as lights the world at times +With some great conflagration; and it spread +From distant land to land, from sea to sea, +Until all women thought as with one mind +And spoke as with one voice; and now behold! +The great Crusading Syndicate of Peace, +Filling all space with one supreme resolve. +Give us, O men, your word that war shall end: +Disarm the world, and we will give you sons - +Sons to construct, and daughters to adorn +A beautiful new earth, where there shall be +Fewer and finer people, opulence +And opportunity and peace for all. +Until you promise peace no shrill birth-cry +Shall sound again upon the aging earth. +We wait your answer.' + + And the world was still +While men considered. + + + +THE WORLD-CHILD + + + +At times I am the mother of the world; +And mine seem all its sorrows, and its fears. +That rose, which in each mother-heart is curled, + The rose of pity, opens with my tears, +And, waking in the night, I lie and hark + To the lone sobbing, and the wild alarms, +Of my World-child, a wailing in the dark: + The child I fain would shelter in my arms. +I call to it (as from another room + A mother calls, what time she cannot go): +'Sleep well, dear world; Love hides behind this gloom. + There is no need for wakefulness or woe, +The long, long night is almost past and gone, +The day is near.' And yet the world weeps on. + +Again I follow it, throughout the day. + With anxious eyes I see it trip and fall, +And hurt itself in many a foolish way: + Childlike, unheeding warning word or call. +I see it grasp, and grasping, break the toys + It cried to own, then toss them on the floor +And, breathless, hurry after fancied joys + That cease to please, when added to its store. +I see the lacerations on its hands, + Made by forbidden tools; but when it weeps, +I also weep, as one who understands; + And having been a child, the memory keeps. +Ah, my poor world, however wrong thy part, +Still is there pity in my mother-heart. + + + +THE HEIGHTS + + + +I cried, 'Dear Angel, lead me to the heights, + And spur me to the top.' + The Angel answered, 'Stop +And set thy house in order; make it fair +For absent ones who may be speeding there. + Then will we talk of heights.' + +I put my house in order. 'Now lead on!' + The Angel said, 'Not yet; + Thy garden is beset +By thorns and tares; go weed it, so all those +Who come to gaze may find the unvexed rose; + Then will we journey on.' + +I weeded well my garden. 'All is done.' + The Angel shook his head. + 'A beggar stands,' he said, +'Outside thy gates; till thou hast given heed +And soothed his sorrow, and supplied his need, + Say not that all is done.' + +The beggar left me singing. 'Now at last - + At last the path is clear.' + 'Nay, there is one draws near +Who seeks, like thee, the difficult highway. +He lacks thy courage; cheer him through the day + Then will we cry, "At last!"' + +I helped my weaker brother. 'Now the heights; + Oh, Guide me, Angel, guide!' + The Presence at my side, +With radiant face, said, 'Look, where are we now?' +And lo! we stood upon the mountain's brow - + The heights, the shining heights! + + + +ON SEEING 'THE HOUSE OF JULIA' AT HERCULANEUM + + + +Not great Vesuvius, in all his ire, +Nor all the centuries, could hide your shame. +There is the little window where you came, +With eyes that woke the demon of desire, +And lips like rose leaves, fashioned out of fire; + And from the lava leaps the molten flame + Of your old sins. The walls cry out your name - +Your face seems rising from the funeral pyre. + +There must have dwelt, within your fated town, + Full many a virtuous dame, and noble wife + Who made your beauty seem as star to sun; +How strange the centuries have handed down + Your name, fair Julia, of immoral life, + And left the others to oblivion. + + + +A PRAYER + + + +Master of sweet and loving lore, + Give us the open mind +To know religion means no more, + No less, than being kind. + +Give us the comprehensive sight + That sees another's need; +And let our aim to set things right + Prove God inspired our creed. + +Give us the soul to know our kin + That dwell in flock and herd, +The voice to fight man's shameful sin + Against the beast and bird. + +Give us a heart with love so fraught + For all created things, +That even our unspoken thought + Bears healing on its wings. + +Give us religion that will cope + With life's colossal woes, +And turn a radiant face of hope + On troops of pigmy foes. + +Give us the mastery of our fate + In thoughts so warm and white, +They stamp upon the brows of hate + Love's glorious seal of light. + +Give us the strong, courageous faith + That makes of pain a friend, +And calls the secret word of death + 'Beginning,' and not 'end.' + + + +WHAT IS RIGHT LIVING? + + + +What is right living? Just to do your best +When worst seems easier. To bear the ills +Of daily life with patient cheerfulness +Nor waste dear time recounting them. + To talk +Of hopeful things when doubt is in the air. +To count your blessings often, giving thanks, +And to accept your sorrows silently, +Nor question why you suffer. To accept +The whole of life as one perfected plan, +And welcome each event as part of it. +To work, and love your work; to trust, to pray +For larger usefulness and clearer sight. +This is right living, pleasing in God's eyes, +Though you be heathen, heretic or Jew. + + + +JUSTICE + + + +However inexplicable may seem + Event and circumstance upon this earth, +Though favours fall on those whom none esteem, + And insult and indifference greet worth; +Though poverty repays the life of toil, + And riches spring where idle feet have trod, +And storms lay waste the patiently tilled soil - + Yet Justice sways the universe of God. + +As undisturbed the stately stars remain + Beyond the glare of day's obscuring light, +So Justice dwells, though mortal eyes in vain + Seek it persistently by reason's sight. +But when, once freed, the illumined soul looks out. +Its cry will be, 'O God, how could I doubt!' + + + +TIME'S GAZE + + + +Time looked me in the eyes while passing by +The milestone of the year. That piercing gaze +Was both an accusation and reproach. +No speech was needed. In a sorrowing look +More meaning lies than in complaining words, +And silence hurts as keenly as reproof. + +Oh, opulent, kind giver of rich hours, +How have I used thy benefits! As babes +Unstring a necklace, laughing at the sound +Of priceless jewels dropping one by one, +So have I laughed while precious moments rolled +Into the hidden corners of the past. +And I have let large opportunities +For high endeavour move unheeded by, +While little joys and cares absorbed my strength. + +And yet, dear Time, set to my credit this: +NOT ONE WHITE HOUR HAVE I MADE BLACK WITH HATE, +NOR WISHED ONE LIVING CREATURE AUGHT BUT GOOD. +Be patient with me. Though the sun slants west, +The day has not yet finished, and I feel +Necessity for action and resolve +Bear in upon my consciousness. I know +The earth's eternal need of earnest souls, +And the great hunger of the world for Love. +I know the goal to high achievement lies +Through the dull pathway of self-conquest first; +And on the stairs of little duties done +We climb to joys that stand thy test. O Time, +Be patient with me, and another day, +Perchance, in passing by, thine eyes may smile. + + + +THE WORKER AND THE WORK + + + +In what I do I note the marring flaw, +The imperfections of the work I see; +Nor am I one who rather DO than BE, +Since its reversal is Creation's law. + +Nay, since there lies a better and a worse, +A lesser and a larger, in men's view, +I would be better than the thing I do, +As God is greater than His universe. + +He shaped Himself before He shaped one world: +A million eons, toiling day and night, +He built Himself to majesty and might, +Before the planets into space were hurled. + +And when Creation's early work was done, +What crude beginnings out of chaos came - +A formless nebula, a wavering flame, +An errant comet, a voracious sun. + +And, still unable to perfect His plan, +What awful creatures at His touch found birth - +Those protoplasmic monsters of the earth, +That owned the world before He fashioned Man. + +And now, behold the poor unfinished state +Of this, His latest masterpiece! Then why, +Seeing the flaws in my own work, should I +Be troubled that no voice proclaims it great? + +Before me lie the cycling rounds of years; +With this small earth will die the thing I do: +The thing I am, goes journeying onward through +A million lives, upon a million spheres. + +My work I build, as best I can and may, +Knowing all mortal effort ends in dust. +I build myself, not as I may, but must, +Knowing, or good, or ill, that self must stay. + +Along the ages, out, and on, afar, +Its journey leads, and must perforce be made. +Likewise its choice, with things of shame and shade, +Or up the path of light, from star to star. + +When all these solar systems shall disperse, +Perchance this labour, and this self-control, +May find reward; and my completed soul +Will fling in space, a little universe. + + + +ART THOU ALIVE? + + + +Art thou alive? Nay, not too soon reply, +Tho' hand, and foot, and lip, and ear, and eye, +Respond, and do thy bidding yet may be +Grim death has done his direst work with thee. +Life, as God gives it, is a thing apart +From active body and from beating heart. +It is the vital spark, the unseen fire, +That moves the mind to reason and aspire; +It is the force that bids emotion roll, +In mighty billows from the surging soul. + +It is the light that grows from hour to hour, +And floods the brain with consciousness of power; +It is the spirit dominating all, +And reaching God with its imperious call, +Until the shining glory of His face +Illuminates each sorrowful, dark place; + +It is the truth that sets the bondsman free, +Knowing he will be what he wills to be. +With its unburied dead the earth is sad. +Art thou alive? proclaim it and be glad. +Perchance the dead may hear thee and arise, +Knowing they live, and HERE is Paradise. + + + +TO-DAY + + + +I love this age of energy and force, + Expectantly I greet each pregnant hour; +Emerging from the all-creative source, + Supreme with promise, imminent with power. +The strident whistle and the clanging bell, + The noise of gongs, the rush of motored things +Are but the prophet voices which foretell + A time when thought may use unfettered wings. + +Too long the drudgery of earth has been + A barrier 'twixt man and his own mind. +Remove the stone, and lo! the Christ within; + For He is there, and who so seeks shall find. +The Great Inventor is the Modern Priest. + He paves the pathway to a higher goal. +Once from the grind of endless toil released + Man will explore the kingdom of his soul. + +And all this restless rush, this strain and strife, + This noise and glare is but the fanfarade +That ushers in the more majestic life + Where faith shall walk with science, unafraid. +I feel the strong vibrations of the earth, + I sense the coming of an hour sublime, +And bless the star that watched above my birth + And let me live in this important time. + + + +THE LADDER + + + +Unto each mortal who comes to earth +A ladder is given by God, at birth, +And up this ladder the soul must go, +Step by step, from the valley below; +Step by step, to the centre of space, +On this ladder of lives, to the Starting Place. + +In time departed (which yet endures) +I shaped my ladder, and you shaped yours. +Whatever they are--they are what we made: +A ladder of light, or a ladder of shade, +A ladder of love, or a hateful thing, +A ladder of strength, or a wavering string. +A ladder of gold, or a ladder of straw, +Each is the ladder of righteous law. + +We flung them away at the call of death, +We took them again with the next life breath. +For a keeper stands by the great birth gates; +As each soul passes, its ladder waits. +Though mine be narrow, and yours be broad, +On my ladder alone can I climb to God. +On your ladder alone can your feet ascend, +For none may borrow, and none may lend. + +If toil and trouble and pain are found, +Twisted and corded, to form each round, +If rusted iron or mouldering wood +Is the fragile frame, you must make it good. +You must build it over and fashion it strong, +Though the task be hard as your life is long; +For up this ladder the pathway leads +To earthly pleasures and spirit needs; +And all that may come in another way +Shall be but illusion, and will not stay. + +In useless effort, then, waste no time; +Rebuild your ladder, and climb and climb. + + + +WHO IS A CHRISTIAN? + + + +Who is a Christian in this Christian land +Of many churches and of lofty spires? +Not he who sits in soft upholstered pews +Bought by the profits of unholy greed, +And looks devotion, while he thinks of gain. +Not he who sends petitions from the lips +That lie to-morrow in the street and mart. +Not he who fattens on another's toil, +And flings his unearned riches to the poor, +Or aids the heathen with a lessened wage, +And builds cathedrals with an increased rent. + +Christ, with Thy great, sweet, simple creed of love, +How must Thou weary of Earth's 'Christian' clans, +Who preach salvation through Thy saving blood +While planning slaughter of their fellow men. +Who is a Christian? It is one whose life +Is built on love, on kindness and on faith; +Who holds his brother as his other self; +Who toils for justice, equity and PEACE, +And hides no aim or purpose in his heart +That will not chord with universal good. + +Though he be pagan, heretic or Jew, +That man is Christian and beloved of Christ. + + + +THE GOAL + + + +All your wonderful inventions, + All your houses vast and tall, +All your great gun-fronted vessels, + Every fort and every wall, +With the passing of the ages, + They shall pass and they shall fall. + +As you sit among the idols + That your avarice gave birth, +As you count the hoarded treasures + That you think of priceless worth, +Time is digging tombs to hide them + In the bosom of the earth. + +There shall come a great convulsion + Or a rushing tidal wave, +Or a sound of mighty thunders + From a subterranean cave, +And a boasting world's possessions + Shall be buried in one grave. + +From the Centuries of Silence + We are bringing back again +Buried vase and bust and column + And the gods they worshipped then, +In the strange unmentioned cities + Built by prehistoric men. + +Did they steal, and lie, and slaughter? + Did they steep their souls in shame? +Did they sell eternal virtues + Just to win a passing fame? +Did they give the gold of honour + For the tinsel of a name? + +We are hurrying all together + Toward the silence and the night; +There is nothing worth the seeking + But the sun-kissed moral height - +There is nothing worth the doing + But the doing of the RIGHT. + + + +THE SPUR + + + +I asked the rock beside the road what joy existence lent. +It answered, 'For a million years my heart has been content.' + +I asked the truffle-seeking swine, as rooting by he went, +'What is the keynote of your life?' He grunted out, 'Content.' + +I asked a slave, who toiled and sung, just what his singing meant. +He plodded on his changeless way, and said, 'I am content.' + +I asked a plutocrat of greed, on what his thoughts were bent. +He chinked the silver in his purse, and said, 'I am content.' + +I asked the mighty forest tree from whence its force was sent. +Its thousand branches spoke as one, and said, 'From discontent.' + +I asked the message speeding on, by what great law was rent +God's secret from the waves of space. It said, 'From discontent.' + +I asked the marble, where the works of God and man were blent, +What brought the statue from the block. It answered, 'Discontent.' + +I asked an Angel, looking down on earth with gaze intent, +How man should rise to larger growth. Quoth he, 'Through +discontent.' + + + +AWAKENED! + + + +Slowly the People waken; they have been, +Like weary soldiers, sleeping in their tents, +While traitors tiptoed through the silent camp +Intent on plunder. Suddenly a sound - +A careless movement of too bold a thief - +Starts one dull sleeper; then another stirs, +A third cries out a warning, and at last +The people are awake! Oh, when as one +The many rise, united and alert, +With Justice for their motto, they reflect +The mighty force of God's Omnipotence. +And nothing stands before them. Lusty Greed, +Tyrannical Corruption long in power, +And smirking Cant (whose right hand robs and slays +So that the left may dower Church and School), +Monopoly, whose mandate took from Toil +The Mother Earth, that Idleness might loll +And breed the Monster of Colossal Wealth - +All these must fall before the gathering Force +Of public indignation. That old strife +Which marks the progress of each century, +The war of Right with Might, is on once more, +And shame to him who does not take his stand. + +This is the weightiest moment of all time, +And on the issues of the present hour +A nation's honour and a country's peace, +A People's future, ay, a World's, depends. + +Until the vital questions of the day +Are solved and settled, and the spendthrift thieves +Who rob the coffers of the saving poor +Are led from fashion's feasts to prison fare, +And taught the saving grace of honest work - +Till Labour claims the privilege of toil +And toil the proceeds of its labour shares - +Let no man sleep, let no man dare to sleep! + + + +SHADOWS + + + +I am sorry in the gladness + Of the joys that crown my days, +For the souls that sit in sadness + Or walk uninviting ways. + +On the radiance of my labour + That a loving fate bestowed, +Falls the shadow of my neighbour, + Crushed beneath a thankless load. + +As the canticle of pleasure + From my lovelit altar rolls, +There is one discordant measure, + As I think of homeless souls. + +And I know that grim old story, + Preached from pulpits, is not so, +For no God could sit in glory + And see sinners writhe below. + +In that great eternal Centre + Where all human life has birth, +Boundless love and pity enter + And flow downward to the earth. + +And all souls in sin or sorrow + Are but passing through the night, +And I know on some to-morrow + God will love them into light. + + + +THE NEW COMMANDMENT + + + +'Let go the Cross'--GERTRUDE RUNSHON. + +I heard a strange voice in the distance calling +As from a star an echo might be falling. + +It spoke four syllables, concise and brief, +Charged with a God-sent message of relief: + +Let go the cross! Oh, you who cling to sorrow, +Hark to the new command and comfort borrow. + +Even as the Master left His cross below +And rose to Paradise, let go, let go. + +Forget your wrongs, your troubles and your losses, +For with the tools of thought we build our crosses. + +Forget your griefs, all grudges and all fear +And enter Paradise--its gates are near. + +Heaven is a realm by loving souls created, +And hell was fashioned by the hearts that hated. + +Love, hope and trust; believe all joys are yours, +Life pays the soul whose confidence endures, + +The blows of adverse fate, by larger pleasures, +As after storms the soil yields fuller measures. + +Let go the cross; roll self--the stone--away +And dwell with Love in Paradise to-day. + + + +SUMMER DREAMS + + + +When the Summer sun is shining, + And the green things push and grow, +Oft my heart runs over measure, +With its flowing fount of pleasure, + As I feel the sea winds blow; + Ah, then life is good, I know. + +And I think of sweet birds building, + And of children fair and free; +And of glowing sun-kissed meadows, +And of tender twilight shadows, + And of boats upon the sea. + Oh, then life seems good to me! + +Then unbidden and unwanted, + Come the darker, sadder sights; +City shop and stifling alley, +Where misfortune's children rally; + And the hot crime-breeding nights, + And the dearth of God's delights. + +And I think of narrow prisons + Where unhappy songbirds dwell, +And of cruel pens and cages +Where some captured wild thing rages + Like a madman in his cell, + In the Zoo, the wild beasts' hell. + +And I long to lift the burden + Of man's selfishness and sin; +And to open wide earth's treasures +Of God's storehouse, full of pleasures, + For my dumb and human kin, + And to ask the whole world in. + + + +THE BREAKING OF CHAINS + + + +Between the ringing of bells and the musical clang of chimes +I hear a sound like the breaking of chains, all through these +Christmas times. +For the thought of the world is waking out of a slumber deep and +long, +And the race is beginning to understand how Right can master Wrong. + +And the eyes of the world are opening wide, and great are the truths +they see; +And the heart of the world is singing a song, and its burden is 'Be +free!' +Now the thought of the world and the wish of the world and the song +of the world will make +A force so strong that the fetters forged for a million years must +break. + +Fetters of superstitious fear have bound the race to creeds +That hindered the upward march of man to the larger faith he needs. +Fetters of greed and pride have made the race bow down to kings; +But the pompous creed and the costly throne must yield to simpler +things. + +The thought of the world has climbed above old paths for centuries +trod; +And cloth and crown no longer mean the 'vested power of God.' +The race no longer bends beneath the weight of Adam's sin, +But stands erect and knows itself the Maker's first of kin. + +And the need of the world and the wish of the world and the song of +the world I hear, +All through the clanging and clashing of bells, this Christmas time +o' the year; +And I hear a sound like the breaking of chains, and it seems to say +to me, +In the voice of One who spoke of old, 'The Truth shall make men +free.' + + + +DECEMBER + + + +Upon December's windy portico +The Old Year stood, and looked out where the sun +Went wading down the West, through drifting clouds. +'I, too, shall sink full soon to rest,' he sighed, +'And follow where my children's feet have trod; +Brave January, beauteous May and June, +My lovely daughters, and my valiant sons, +All, all save one, have left me for that bourne +Men call the Past. It seems but yesterday +I saw fair August, laughing with the Sea, +Snaring the Earth with her seductive wiles, +And making conquest, even of the Sun. +Yet has she gone, and left me here to mourn.' +Then spake December, from an open door: +'Father, the night grows cold; come in and rest. +Sit with me here beside this glowing grate; +I have not left thee; thou art not alone; +My house is thine; all warm with love and light, +And bright with holly and with cedar sweet. +My stalwart arm is thine to lean upon; +The feast is spread, I only wait for thee; +God smiles upon thy dead, smile thou on me.' +Then through the open door the Old Year passed +And darkness settled on the outer world. + + + +'THE WAY' + + + +However certain of the way thou art, +Take not the self-appointed leader's part. +Follow no man, and by no man be led, +And no man lead. AWAKE, and go ahead. +Thy path, though leading straight unto the goal +Might prove confusing to another soul. +The goal is central; but from east, and west, +And north, and south, we set out on the quest; +From lofty mountains, and from valleys low:- +How could all find one common way to go? + +Lord Buddha to the wilderness was brought. +Lord Jesus to the Cross. And yet, think not +By solitude, or cross, thou canst achieve, +Lest in thine own true Self thou dost believe. +Know thou art One, with life's Almighty Source, +Then are thy feet set on the certain Course. + +Nor does it matter if thou feast, or fast, +Or what thy creed--or where thy lot is cast; +In halls of pleasure or in crowded mart, +In city streets, or from all men apart - +Thy path leads to the Light; and peace and power +Shall be thy portion, growing hour by hour. +Follow no man, and by no man be led. +And no man lead. But KNOW and go ahead. + + + +THE LEADER TO BE + + + +What shall the leader be in that great day +When we who sleep and dream that we are slaves +Shall wake and know that Liberty is ours? +Mark well that word--not yours, not mine, but ours. +For through the mingling of the separate streams +Of individual protest and desire, +In one united sea of purpose, lies +The course to Freedom. + + When Progression takes +Her undisputed right of way, and sinks +The old traditions and conventions where +They may not rise, what shall the leader be? + +No mighty warrior skilled in crafts of war, +Sowing earth's fertile furrows with dead men +And staining crimson God's cerulean sea, +To prove his prowess to a shuddering world. + +Nor yet a monarch with a silly crown +Perched on an empty head, an in-bred heir +To senseless titles and anemic blood. + +No ruler, purchased by the perjured votes +Of striving demagogues whose god is gold. +Not one of these shall lead to Liberty. +The weakness of the world cries out for strength. +The sorrow of the world cries out for hope. +Its suffering cries for kindness. + + He who leads +Must then be strong and hopeful as the dawn +That rises unafraid and full of joy +Above the blackness of the darkest night. +He must be kind to every living thing; +Kind as the Krishna, Buddha and the Christ, +And full of love for all created life. +Oh, not in war shall his great prowess lie, +Nor shall he find his pleasure in the chase. +Too great for slaughter, friend of man and beast, +Touching the borders of the Unseen Realms +And bringing down to earth their mystic fires +To light our troubled pathways, wise and kind +And human to the core, so shall he be, +The coming leader of the coming time. + + + +THE GREATER LOVE + + + +Hear thou my prayer, great God of opulence; +Give me no blessings, save as recompense +For blessings which I lovingly bestow +On needy stranger or on suffering foe. +If Wealth, by chance, should on my path appear, +Let Wisdom and Benevolence stand near, +And Charity within my portal wait, +To guard me from acquaintance intimate. + +Yet in this intricate great art of living +Guide me away from misdirected giving, +And show me how to spur the laggard soul +To strive alone once more to gain the goal. + +Repay my worldly efforts to attain +Only as I develop heart and brain; +Nor brand me with the 'Dollar Sign' above +A bosom void of sympathy and love. + +If on the carrying winds my name be blown +To any land or time beyond my own, +Let it not be as one who gained the day +By crowding others from the chosen way; +Rather as one who missed the highest place +Pausing to cheer spent runners in the race. +To do--to have--is lesser than to BE: +The greater boon I ask, dear God, from Thee. + + + +THANK GOD FOR LIFE + + + +Thank God for life, in such an age as this, + Rich with the promises of better things. +Thank God for being part of this great nation's heart, + Whose strong pulsations are not ruled by kings. + +Our thanks for fearless and protesting speech + When cloven hoofs show 'neath the robes of state. +For us no servile song of 'Kings can do no wrong.' + Not royal birth, but worth, makes rulers great. + +Thank God for peace within our border lands, + And for the love of peace within each soul. +Who thinks on peace has wrought, mosaic-squares of thought + In the foundation of our future goal. + +Our thanks for love, and knowledge of love's laws. + Love is a greater power than vested might. +Love is the central source of all enduring force. + Love is the law that sets the whole world right. + +Our thanks for that increasing torch of light + The tireless hand of science holds abroad. +And may its growing blaze shine on all hidden ways + Till man beholds the silhouette of God. + + + +TIME ENOUGH + + + +I know it is early morning, + And hope is calling aloud, +And your heart is afire with Youth's desire + To hurry along with the crowd. +But linger a bit by the roadside, + And lend a hand by the way, +'Tis a curious fact that a generous act +Brings leisure and luck to a day. + +I know it is only the noontime - + There is chance enough to be kind; +But the hours run fast when noon has passed, + And the shadows are close behind. +So think while the light is shining, + And act ere the set of the sun, +For the sorriest woe that a soul can know + Is to think what it might have done. + +I know it is almost evening, + But the twilight hour is long. +If you listen and heed each cry of need + You can right full many a wrong. +For when we have finished the journey + We will all look back and say: +'On life's long mile there was nothing worth while + But the good we did by the way.' + + + +NEW YEAR'S DAY + + + +When with clanging and with ringing + Comes the year's initial day, +I can feel the rhythmic swinging + Of the world upon its way; +And though Right still wears a fetter, + And though Justice still is blind, +Time's beyond is always better + Than the paths he leaves behind. + +In our eons of existence, + As we circle through the night, +We annihilate the distance + 'Twixt the darkness and the light. +From beginnings crude and lowly, + Round and round our souls have trod +Through the circles, winding slowly + Up to knowledge and to God. + +With each century departed + Some old evil found a tomb, +Some old truth was newly started + In propitious soil to bloom. +With each epoch some condition + That has handicapped the race +(Worn-out creed or superstition) + Unto knowledge yields its place. + +Though in folly and in blindness + And in sorrow still we grope, +Yet in man's increasing kindness + Lies the world's stupendous hope; +For our darkest hour of errors + Is as radiant as the dawn, +Set beside the awful terrors + Of the ages that have gone. + +And above the sad world's sobbing, + And the strife of clan with clan, +I can hear the mighty throbbing + Of the heart of God in man; +And a voice chants through the chiming + Of the bells, and seems to say, +We are climbing, we are climbing, + As we circle on our way. + + + +LIFE IS A PRIVILEGE + + + +Life is a privilege. Its youthful days +Shine with the radiance of continuous Mays. +To live, to breathe, to wonder and desire, +To feed with dreams the heart's perpetual fire; +To thrill with virtuous passions and to glow +With great ambitions--in one hour to know +The depths and heights of feeling--God! in truth +How beautiful, how beautiful is youth! + +Life is a privilege. Like some rare rose +The mysteries of the human mind unclose. +What marvels lie in earth and air and sea, +What stores of knowledge wait our opening key, +What sunny roads of happiness lead out +Beyond the realms of indolence and doubt, +And what large pleasures smile upon and bless +The busy avenues of usefulness. + +Life is a privilege. Though noontide fades +And shadows fall along the winding glades; +Though joy-blooms wither in the autumn air, +Yet the sweet scent of sympathy is there. +Pale sorrow leads us closer to our kind, +And in the serious hours of life we find +Depths in the soul of men which lend new worth +And majesty to this brief span of earth. + +Life is a privilege. If some sad fate +Sends us alone to seek the exit gate; +If men forsake us as the shadows fall, +Still does the supreme privilege of all +Come in that reaching upward of the soul +To find the welcoming presence at the goal, +And in the knowledge that our feet have trod +Paths that lead from and must lead back to God. + + + +IN AN OLD ART GALLERY + + + +Before the statue of a giant Hun, +There stood a dwarf, misshapen and uncouth. +His lifted eyes seemed asking: 'Why, in sooth, +Was I not fashioned like this mighty one? +Would God show favour to an older son + Like earthly kings, and beggar without ruth + Another, who sinned only by his youth? +Why should two lives in such divergence run?' + +Strange, as he gazed, that from a vanished past + No memories revived of war and strife, + Of misused prowess, and of broken law. +That old Hun's spirit, in the dwarf re-cast, + Lived out the sequence of an earthly life. + IT WAS THE STATUE OF HIMSELF HE SAW! + + + +TRUE BROTHERHOOD + + + +God, what a world, if men in street and mart +Felt that same kinship of the human heart +Which makes them, in the face of flame and flood, +Rise to the meaning of true Brotherhood! + + + +THE DECADENT + + + +Among the virile hosts he passed along, +Conspicuous for an undetermined grace +Of sexless beauty. In his form and face +God's mighty purpose somehow had gone wrong. +Then on his loom, he wove a careful song, + Of sensuous threads; a wordy web of lace + Wherein the primal passions of the race +And his own sins made wonder for the throng. + +A little pen prick opened up a vein, + And gave the finished mesh a crimson blot - + The last consummate touch of studied art. +But those who knew strong passion and keen pain, + Looked through and through the pattern and found not + One single great emotion of the heart. + + + +LORD, SPEAK AGAIN + + + +When God had formed the Universe, He thought +Of all the marvels therein to be wrought +And to His aid then Motherhood was brought. + +'My lesser self, the feminine of Me, +She will go forth throughout all time,' quoth He, +'And make My world what I would have it be. + +'For I am weary, having laboured so, +And for a cycle of repose would go +Into that silence which but God may know. + +'Therefore I leave the rounding of My plan +To Motherhood; and that which I began +Let woman finish in perfecting man. + +'She is the soil: the human Mother Earth: +She is the sun, that calls the seed to earth. +She is the gardener, who knows its worth. + +'From Me, all seed, of any kind must spring. +Divine the growth such seed and soil will bring. +For all is Me, and I am everything.' + +Thus having spoken to Himself aloud, +His glorious face upon His breast He bowed, +And sought repose behind a wall of cloud. + +Come forth, O God! though great Thy thought and good, +In shaping woman for true Motherhood, +Lord, speak again; she has not understood. + +The centuries pass: the cycles roll along - +The earth is peopled with a mighty throng, +Yet men are fighting and the world goes wrong. + +Lord, speak again, ere yet it be too late, +Unloved, unwanted souls come through earth's gate: +The unborn child is given a dower of hate. + +Thy world progresses in all ways save one. +In Motherhood, for which it was begun, +Lord, Lord, behold how little has been done! + +Children are spawned like fishes in the sand. +With ignorance and crime they fill the land. +Lord, speak again, till mothers understand. + +It is not all of Motherhood to know +Conception pleasure or deliverance woe. +Who plants the seed should help the shoot to grow. + +Better a barren soil than weed and tare, +Or sickly plants that die for want of care +In poisonous jungles, void of sun and air. + +True Motherhood is not alone to breed +The human race; it is to know and heed +Its holiest purpose and its highest need. + +Lord, speak again, so woman shall be stirred +With the full meaning of that mighty word +True Motherhood. She has not rightly heard. + + + +MY HEAVEN + + + +Unhoused in deserts of accepted thought, + And lost in jungles of confusing creeds, + My soul strayed, homeless, finding its own needs +Unsatisfied with what tradition taught. + +The pros and cons, the little ifs and ands, + The but and maybe, and the this and that, + On which the churches thicken and grow fat, +I found but structures built on shifting sands. + +And all their heavens were strange and far away, + And all their hells were made of human hate; + And since for death I did not care to wait, +A heaven I fashioned for myself one day. + +Of happy thoughts I built it stone by stone, + With joy of life I draped each spacious room, + With love's great light I drove away all gloom, +And in the centre I made God a throne. + +And this dear heaven I set within my heart, + And carried it about with me alway, + And then the changing dogmas of the day +Seemed alien to my thoughts and held no part. + +Now as I take my heaven from place to place + I find new rooms by love's revealing light, + And death will give me but a larger sight +To see my palace spreading into space. + + + +LIFE + + + +On a bleak, bald hill with a dull world under, + The dreary world of the Commonplace, +I have stood when the whole world seemed a blunder + Of dotard Time, in an aimless race. +With worry about me and want before me - + Yet deep in my soul was a rapture spring +That made me cry to the grey sky o'er me: + 'Oh, I know this life is a goodly thing!' + +I have given sweet years to a thankless duty + While cold and starving, though clothed and fed, +For a young heart's hunger for joy and beauty + Is harder to bear than the need of bread. +I have watched the wane of a sodden season, + Which let hope wither, and made care thrive, +And through it all, without earthly reason, + I have thrilled with the glory of being alive. + +And now I stand by the great sea's splendour, + Where love and beauty feed heart and eye. +The brilliant light of the sun grows tender + As it slants to the shore of the by and by. +I prize each hour as a golden treasure - + A pearl Time drops from a broken string: +And all my ways are the ways of pleasure, + And I know this life is a goodly thing. + +And I know, too, that not in the seeing, + Or having, or doing the things we would, +Lies that deep rapture that comes from being + AT ONE WITH THE PURPOSE WHICH MADE ALL GOOD. +And not from Pleasure the heart may borrow + That rare contentment for which we strive, +Unless through trouble, and want, and sorrow + It has thrilled with the glory of being alive. + + + +GOD'S KIN + + + +There is no summit you may not attain, + No purpose which you may not yet achieve, + If you will wait serenely and believe +Each seeming loss is but a step toward gain. + +Between the mountain-tops lie vale and plain; + Let nothing make you question, doubt or grieve; + Give only good, and good alone receive; +And as you welcome joy, so welcome pain. + +That which you most desire awaits your word; + Throw wide the door and bid it enter in. +Speak, and the strong vibrations shall be stirred; + Speak, and above earth's loud, unmeaning din +Your silent declarations shall be heard. + All things are possible to God's own kin. + + + +CONQUEST + + + +Talk not of strength, until your heart has known +And fought with weakness through long hours alone. + +Talk not of virtue, till your conquering soul +Has met temptation and gained full control. + +Boast not of garments, all unscorched by sin, +Till you have passed, unscathed, through fires within. + +Oh, poor that pride the unscarred soldier shows, +Who safe in camp, has never faced his foes. + + + +THE STATUE + + + +A granite rock in the mountain side +Gazed on the world and was satisfied. +It watched the centuries come and go. +It welcomed the sunlight, yet loved the snow. +It grieved when the forest was forced to fall, +Yet joyed when steeples rose, white and tall, +In the valley below it, and thrilled to hear +The voice of the great town roaring near. + +When the mountain stream from its idle play +Was caught by the mill wheel and borne away +And trained to labour, the grey rock mused +'Trees and verdure and stream are used +By Man the Master; but I remain +Friend of the mountain, and star, and plain, +Unchanged forever by God's decree, +While passing centuries bow to me.' + +Then all unwarned, with a mighty shock +Out of the mountain was wrenched the rock. +Bruised and battered and broken in heart, +It was carried away to the common mart, +Wrecked and ruined in piece and pride. +'Oh, God is cruel,' the granite cried, +'Comrade of mountains, of stars the friend, +By all deserted, how sad my end.' + +A dreaming sculptor in passing by +Gazed at the granite with thoughtful eye. +Then stirred with a purpose supremely grand +He bade his dream in the rock expand. +And lo! from the broken and shapeless mass +That grieved and doubted, it came to pass +That a glorious statue of priceless worth +And infinite beauty, adorned the earth. + + + +SIRIUS + + + +'Since Sinus crossed the Milky Way, sixty thousand years have +gone.'--GARRETT P. SERVISS. + +Since Sirius crossed the Milky Way + Full sixty thousand years have gone, +Yet hour by hour, and day by day, + This tireless star speeds on and on. + +Methinks he must be moved to mirth + By that droll tale of Genesis, +Which says creation had its birth + For such a puny world as this. + +To hear how One who fashioned all + Those Solar Systems, tier on tiers, +Expressed in little Adam's fall + The purpose of a million spheres. + +And, witness of the endless plan, + To splendid wrath he must be wrought +By pigmy creeds presumptuous man + Sends forth as God's primeval thought. + +Perchance from half a hundred stars + He hears as many curious things; +From Venus, Jupiter and Mars, + And Saturn with the beauteous rings, + +There may be students of the Cause + Who send their revelations out, +And formulate their codes of laws, + With heavens for faith and hells for doubt. + +On planets old ere form or place + Was lent to earth, may dwell--who knows - +A God-like and perfected race + That hails great Sirius as he goes. + +In zones that circle moon and sun, + 'Twixt world and world, he may see souls +Whose span of earthly life is done, + Still journeying up to higher goals. + +And on dead planets grey and cold + Grim spectral souls, that harboured hate +Life after life, he may behold + Descending to a darker fate. + +And on his grand majestic course + He may have caught one glorious sight +Of that vast shining central Source + From which proceeds all Life, all Light. + +Since Sirius crossed the Milky Way + Full sixty thousand years have gone, +No mortal man may bid him stay, + No mortal man may speed him on. + +No mortal mind may comprehend + What is beyond, what was before; +To God be glory without end, + Let man be humble and adore. + + + +AT FONTAINEBLEAU + + + +At Fontainebleau, I saw a little bed +Fashioned of polished wood, with gold ornate, +Ambition, hope, and sorrow, ay, and hate +Once battled there, above a childish head, +And there in vain, grief wept, and memory plead + It was so small! but Ah, dear God, how great + The part it played in one sad woman's fate. +How wide the gloom, that narrow object shed. + +The symbol of an over-reaching aim, + The emblem of a devastated joy, + It spoke of glory, and a blasted home: +Of fleeting honours, and disordered fame, + And the lone passing of a fragile boy. + +* * * + +It was the cradle of the King of Rome. + + + +THE MASQUERADE + + + +Look in the eyes of trouble with a smile, + Extend your hand and do not be afraid. + 'Tis but a friend who comes to masquerade. +And test your faith and courage for awhile. + +Fly, and he follows fast with threat and jeer. + Shrink, and he deals hard blow on stinging blow, + But bid him welcome as a friend, and lo! +The jest is off--the masque will disappear. + + + +SYMPATHY + + + +Is the way hard and thorny, oh, my brother? + Do tempests beat, and adverse wild winds blow? +And are you spent, and broken, at each nightfall, + Yet with each morn you rise and onward go? +Brother, I know, I know! +I, too, have journeyed so. + +Is your heart mad with longing, oh, my sister? + Are all great passions in your breast aglow? +Does the white wonder of your own soul blind you, + And are you torn with rapture and with woe? +Sister, I know, I know! +I, too, have suffered so. + +Is the road filled with snare and quicksand, pilgrim? + Do pitfalls lie where roses seem to grow? +And have you sometimes stumbled in the darkness, + And are you bruised and scarred by many a blow? +Pilgrim, I know, I know! +I, too, have stumbled so. + +Do you send out rebellious cry and question, + As mocking hours pass silently and slow, +Does your insistent 'wherefore' bring no answer, + While stars wax pale with watching, and droop low? +I, too, have questioned so, +But now _I_ KNOW, _I_ KNOW! +To toil, to strive, to err, to cry, to grow, +TO LOVE THROUGH all--this is the way to KNOW. + + + +INTERMEDIARY + + + +When from the prison of its body free, +My soul shall soar, before it goes to Thee, +Thou great Creator, give it power to know +The language of all sad, dumb things below. +And let me dwell a season still on earth +Before I rise to some diviner birth: +Invisible to men, yet seen and heard, +And understood by sorrowing beast and bird - +Invisible to men, yet always near, +To whisper counsel in the human ear: +And with a spell to stay the hunter's hand +And stir his heart to know and understand; +To plant within the dull or thoughtless mind +The great religious impulse to be kind. + +Before I prune my spirit wings and rise +To seek my loved ones in their paradise, +Yea! even before I hasten on to see +That lost child's face, so like a dream to me, +I would be given this intermediate role, +And carry comfort to each poor, dumb soul: +And bridge man's gulf of cruelty and sin +By understanding of his lower kin. +'Twixt weary driver and the straining steed +On wings of mercy would my spirit speed. +And each should know, before his journey's end, +That in the other dwelt a loving friend. +From zoo and jungle, and from cage and stall, +I would translate each inarticulate call, +Each pleading look, each frenzied act and cry, +And tell the story to each passer-by; +And of a spirit's privilege possessed, +Pursue indifference to its couch of rest, +And whisper in its ear until in awe +It woke and knew God's all-embracing law +Of Universal Life--the One in All. + +* * * + +Lord, let this mission to my lot befall. + + + +LIFE'S CAR + + + + 'Hurry up!' +No lingering by old doors of doubt - + No loitering by the way, +No waiting a To-morrow car, + When you can board To-day. +Success is somewhere down the track; + Before the chance is gone +Accelerate your laggard pace, + Swing on, I say, swing on - + Hurry up! + + 'Step lively!' +Belated souls are following fast, + They shout and signal, 'Wait.' +Conductor Time brooks no delay, + He rings the bell of Fate. +But you can give the man behind, + With one hand on the bar, +A final chance to brook defeat, + And board the moving car. + Step lively! + + 'Move up!' +Make way for others as you sit + Or stand. This crowded earth +Has room for every journeying soul + En route to higher birth. +Ay, room and comfort, if no one + Took double share or space, +Nor let his greed and selfishness + Absorb another's place. + Move up! + + 'Hold fast!' +The jolting switch of obstacles + With jarring rails is near. +Stand firm of foot, be strong of grip, + Brace well and have no fear. +The Maker of the Car of Life + Foresaw that curve--Despair, +And hung the straps of faith, and hope + So you might grasp them there. + Hold fast! + + + +OPPORTUNITY + + + +Send forth your heart's desire, and work and wait; +The opportunities of life are brought +To our own doors, not by capricious fate, +But by the strong compelling force of thought. + + + +THE AGE OF MOTORED THINGS + + + +The wonderful age of the world I sing - +The age of battery, coil and spring, +Of steam, and storage, and motored thing. + +Though faith may slumber and art seem dead, +And all that is spoken has once been said, +And all that is written were best unread; + +Though hearts are iron and thoughts are steel, +And all that has value is mercantile, +Yet marvellous truths shall the age reveal. + +Ay, greater the marvels this age shall find +Than all the centuries left behind, +When faith was a bigot and art was blind. + +Oh, sorry the search of the world for gods, +Through faith that slaughters and art that lauds, +While reason sits on its throne and nods. + +But out of the leisure that men will know, +When the cruel things of the sad earth go, +A Faith that is Knowledge shall rise and grow. + +In the throb and whir of each new machine +Thinner is growing the veil between +The visible earth and the worlds unseen. + +The True Religion shall leisure bring; +And Art shall awaken and Love shall sing: +Oh, ho! for the age of the motored thing! + + + +NEW YEAR + + + +MORTAL: + 'The night is cold, the hour is late, the world is bleak and +drear; + Who is it knocking at my door?' + +THE NEW YEAR: + 'I am Good Cheer.' + +MORTAL: + 'Your voice is strange; I know you not; in shadows dark I grope. + What seek you here?' + +THE NEW YEAR: + 'Friend, let me in; my name is Hope.' + +MORTAL: + 'And mine is Failure; you but mock the life you seek to bless. + Pass on.' + +THE NEW YEAR: + 'Nay, open wide the door; I am Success.' + +MORTAL: + 'But I am ill and spent with pain; too late has come your wealth. + I cannot use it.' + +THE NEW YEAR: + 'Listen, friend; I am Good Health.' + +MORTAL: + 'Now, wide I fling my door. Come in, and your fair statements +prove.' + +THE NEW YEAR: + 'But you must open, too, your heart, for I am Love.' + + + +DISARMAMENT + + + +We have outgrown the helmet and cuirass, +The spear, the arrow, and the javelin. +These crude inventions of a cruder age, +When men killed men to show their love of God, +And he who slaughtered most was greatest king. +We have outgrown the need of war! + Should men +Unite in this one thought, all war would end. + +Disarm the world; and let all Nations meet +Like Men, not monsters, when disputes arise. +When crossed opinions tangle into snarls, +Let Courts untie them, and not armies cut. +When State discussions breed dissensions, let +Union and Arbitration supersede +The hell-created implements of War. +Disarm the world! and bid destructive thought +Slip like a serpent from the mortal mind +Down through the marshes of oblivion. Soon +A race of gods shall rise! Disarm! Disarm! + + + +THE CALL + + + +All wantonly in hours of joy, +I made a song of pain. +Soon Grief drew near, and paused to hear, +And sang the sad refrain, +Again and yet again. + +Then recklessly in my despair, +I sang of hope one day. +And Joy turned back upon life's track, +And smiled, and came my way, +And sat her down to stay. + + + +A LITTLE SONG + + + +Oh, a great world, a fair world, a true world I find it; +A sun that never forgets to rise, +On the darkest night, a star in the skies, +And a God of love behind it. + +Oh, a good life, a sweet life, a large life I take it, +Is what He offers to you, and me; +A chance to do, and a chance to be, +Whatever we chose to make it. + +Oh, a far way, a high way, a sure way He leads us; +And if the journey at times seems long, +We must trudge ahead, with a trustful song, +And know at the end He needs us. + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg Etext Poems of Progress, by Ella Wheeler Wilcox + diff --git a/old/pmprg10.zip b/old/pmprg10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..2c418f3 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/pmprg10.zip |