Poems of Power Part 6

ATTAINMENT

Use all your hidden forces. Do not miss The purpose of this life, and do not wait For circ.u.mstance to mould or change your fate; In your own self lies Destiny. Let this Vast truth cast out all fear, all prejudice, All hesitation. Know that you are great, Great with divinity. So dominate Environment, and enter into bliss.

Love largely and hate nothing. Hold no aim That does not chord with universal good.

Hear what the voices of the Silence say - All joys are yours if you put forth your claim.

Once let the spiritual laws be understood, Material things must answer and obey.

A PLEA TO PEACE

When mighty issues loom before us, all The petty great men of the day seem small, Like pigmies standing in a blaze of light Before some grim majestic mountain-height.

War, with its b.l.o.o.d.y and impartial hand, Reveals the hidden weakness of a land, Uncrowns the heroes trusting Peace has made Of men whose honour is a thing of trade, And turns the searchlight full on many a place Where proud conventions long have masked disgrace.

O lovely Peace! as thou art fair be wise.

Demand great men, and great men shall arise To do thy bidding. Even as warriors come, Swift at the call of bugle and of drum, So at the voice of Peace, imperative As bugle's call, shall heroes spring to live For country and for thee. In every land, In every age, men are what times demand.

Demand the best, O Peace, and teach thy sons They need not rush in front of death-charged guns With murder in their hearts to prove their worth.

The grandest heroes who have graced the earth Were love-filled souls who did not seek the fray, But chose the safe, hard, high, and lonely way Of selfless labour for a suffering world.

Beneath our glorious flag again unfurled In victory such heroes wait to be Called into bloodless action, Peace, by thee.

Be thou insistent in thy stern demand, And wise, great men shall rise up in the land.

PRESUMPTION

Whenever I am p.r.o.ne to doubt or wonder - I check myself, and say, "That mighty One Who made the solar system cannot blunder - And for the best all things are being done."

Who set the stars on their eternal courses Has fas.h.i.+oned this strange earth by some sure plan.

Bow low, bow low to those majestic forces, Nor dare to doubt their wisdom, puny man.

You cannot put one little star in motion, You cannot shape one single forest leaf, Nor fling a mountain up, nor sink an ocean, Presumptuous pigmy, large with unbelief.

You cannot bring one dawn of regal splendour, Nor bid the day to shadowy twilight fall, Nor send the pale moon forth with radiance tender - And dare you doubt the One who has done all?

"So much is wrong, there is such pain--such sinning."

Yet look again--behold how much is right!

And He who formed the world from its beginning Knows how to guide it upward to the light.

Your task, O man, is not to carp and cavil At G.o.d's achievements, but with purpose strong To cling to good, and turn away from evil.

That is the way to help the world along.

HIGH NOON

Time's finger on the dial of my life Points to high noon! and yet the half-spent day Leaves less than half remaining, for the dark, Bleak shadows of the grave engulf the end.

To those who burn the candle to the stick, The sputtering socket yields but little light.

Long life is sadder than an early death.

We cannot count on ravelled threads of age Whereof to weave a fabric. We must use The warp and woof the ready present yields And toil while daylight lasts. When I bethink How brief the past, the future, still more brief Calls on to action, action! Not for me Is time for retrospection or for dreams, Not time for self-laudation or remorse.

Have I done n.o.bly? Then I must not let Dead yesterday unborn to-morrow shame.

Have I done wrong? Well, let the bitter taste Of fruit that turned to ashes on my lip Be my reminder in temptation's hour, And keep me silent when I would condemn.

Sometimes it takes the acid of a sin To cleanse the clouded windows of our souls So pity may s.h.i.+ne through them.

Looking back, My faults and errors seem like stepping-stones That led the way to knowledge of the truth And made me value virtue; sorrows s.h.i.+ne In rainbow colours o'er the gulf of years, Where lie forgotten pleasures.

Looking forth, Out to the western sky still bright with noon, I feel well spurred and booted for the strife That ends not till Nirvana is attained.

Battling with fate, with men, and with myself, Up the steep summit of my life's forenoon, Three things I learned, three things of precious worth, To guide and help me down the western slope.

I have learned how to pray, and toil, and save: To pray for courage to receive what comes, Knowing what comes to be divinely sent; To toil for universal good, since thus And only thus can good come unto me; To save, by giving whatsoe'er I have To those who have not--this alone is gain.

THOUGHT-MAGNETS

With each strong thought, with every earnest longing For aught thou deemest needful to thy soul, Invisible vast forces are set thronging Between thee and that goal

'Tis only when some hidden weakness alters And changes thy desire, or makes it less, That this mysterious army ever falters Or stops short of success.

Thought is a magnet; and the longed-for pleasure, Or boon, or aim, or object, is the steel; And its attainment hangs but on the measure Of what thy soul can feel.

SMILES

Smile a little, smile a little, As you go along, Not alone when life is pleasant, But when things go wrong.

Care delights to see you frowning, Loves to hear you sigh; Turn a smiling face upon her - Quick the dame will fly.

Smile a little, smile a little, All along the road; Every life must have its burden, Every heart its load.

Why sit down in gloom and darkness With your grief to sup?

As you drink Fate's bitter tonic, Smile across the cup.

Smile upon the troubled pilgrims Whom you pa.s.s and meet; Frowns are thorns, and smiles are blossoms Oft for weary feet.

Do not make the way seem harder By a sullen face; Smile a little, smile a little, Brighten up the place.

Smile upon your undone labour; Not for one who grieves O'er his task waits wealth or glory; He who smiles achieves.

Though you meet with loss and sorrow In the pa.s.sing years, Smile a little, smile a little, Even through your tears.

THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY