TREAD down, oh Man, beneath thy feet, the brute, Not that the sinless, innocent brute which still Goes on its way unshamed, undoubting, mute, Obedient to the pre-ordained will. But that which deep within your nature lurks Unseen, nay scarce suspected; booth and claw Red with the stain of age-long time, and works Beneath the dull unpitying primal law. Put off the curse of war, the shame of strife; Make thou the hates, the miseries to cease, But yet forget not that the flower of life May wither in the windless glare of Peace. The Heaven our souls desire is more than rest, Act is our Law, our Joy, our highest meed; By work and that alone our souls are blest, And whoso gains it, he is blest indeed. Remember thou of how great dignity Is he "who sees life whole and sees it one," Who knows the Past, and what the world shall be; Full grown when its long pupilage is done. Put off the satyr with his carnal leer, Put off alike the tiger and the ape; Keep justice, love, and reasonable fear, Immortal Spirit clothed in mortal shape! Put off alike the worldling and the saint, The aims, too thin, the earthy, grovelling things; The curse of greed, the aspirations faint For heights too cold and far, for flagging wings. Put off the ascetic, shun the sensual sty, Scorn not our dual Nature, nor let Pride Exchange for fruitful earth the barren sky, Since Earth and Heaven are here and side by side. Let Woman be the equal mate of Man, And let the love of all the race inspire With deeper glow than earthly passion can A soul that kindles with diviner fire. Fulfilled with calm beneficent liturgies Keep thy undaunted soul, content to sleep, If such thy Fate, for ever, or to rise When the Voice calling wakes thy slumbers deep; The Voice Divine which sounds from soul to soul, The Voice which still from Youth to Age doth call, Unceasing though the earth forget to roll, And all her wandering sisters swerve and fall. |