You will be what you will to be;Let failure find its false contentIn that poor word “environment,”But spirit scorns it, and is free. It masters time, it conquers space,It cowes that boastful trickster Chance,And bids the tyrant CircumstanceUncrown and fill a servant’s place. The human Will, that force unseen,The offspring of a deathless Soul,Can hew […]

Nay, seer, I do not doubt thy mystic lore,Nor question that the tenor of my life,Past, present, and the future, is revealedThere in my horoscope. I do believeThat yon dead moon compels the haughty seasTo ebb and flow, and that my natal starStands like a stern-browed sentinel in spaceAnd challenges events; nor lets one grief,Or […]

The mighty forces of mysterious spaceAre one by one subdued by lordly man.The awful lightning that for eons ranTheir devastating and untrammelled race,Now bear his messages from place to placeLike carrier doves. The winds lead on his van;The lawless elements no longer canResist his strength, but yield with sullen grace. His bold feet scaling heights […]

Should some great angel say to me to-morrow,“Thou must re-tread thy pathway from the start,But God will grant, in pity, for thy sorrow,Some one dear wish, the nearest to thy heart.” This were my wish!–from my life’s dim beginningLET BE WHAT HAS BEEN! wisdom planned the wholeMy want, my woe, my errors, and my sinning,All, […]

Of all the blessings which my life has known,I value most, and most praise God for three:Want, Loneliness, and Pain, those comrades true, Who masqueraded in the garb of foesFor many a year, and filled my heart with dread.Yet fickle joys, like false, pretentious friends,Have proved less worthy than this trio. First, Want taught me […]

Not like a daring, bold, aggressive boy,Is inspiration, eager to pursue,But rather like a maiden, fond, yet coy,Who gives herself to him who best doth woo. Once she may smile, or thrice, thy soul to fire,In passing by, but when she turns her face,Thou must persist and seek her with desire,If thou wouldst win the […]

Our thoughts are moulding unmade spheres,And, like a blessing or a curse,They thunder down the formless years,And ring throughout the universe. We build our futures by the shapeOf our desires, and not by acts.There is no pathway of escape;No priest-made creeds can alter facts. Salvation is not begged or bought;Too long this selfish hope sufficed;Too […]

‘Twixt what thou art, and what thou wouldst be, letNo “If” arise on which to lay the blame.Man makes a mountain of that puny word,But, like a blade of grass before the scythe,It falls and withers when a human will,Stirred by creative force, sweeps toward its aim. Thou wilt be what thou couldst be. CircumstanceIs […]

There are two kinds of people on earth to-day;Just two kinds of people, no more, I say. Not the sinner and saint, for it’s well understoodThe good are half bad, and the bad are half good. Not the rich and the poor, for to rate a man’s wealthYou must first know the state of his […]

The fields were bleak and sodden.Not a wingOr note enlivened the depressing wood;A soiled and sullen, stubborn snowdrift stoodBeside the roadway. Winds came mutteringOf storms to be, and brought the chilly stingOf icebergs in their breath. Stalled cattle mooedForth plaintive pleadings for the earth’s green food.No gleam, no hint of hope in anything. The sky […]

If one poor burdened toiler o’er life’s road,Who meets us by the way,Goes on less conscious of his galling load,Then life, indeed, does pay. If we can show one troubled heart the gainThat lies alway in loss,Why, then, we too are paid for all the painOf bearing life’s hard cross. If some despondent soul to […]

I wandered o’er the vast green plains of youth,And searched for Pleasure. On a distant heightFame’s silhouette stood sharp against the skies.Beyond vast crowds that thronged a broad highwayI caught the glimmer of a golden goal,While from a blooming bower smiled siren Love. Straight gazing in her eyes, I laughed at LoveWith all the haughty […]

However skilled and strong art thou, my foe,However fierce is thy relentless hate,Though firm thy hand, and strong thy aim, and straightThy poisoned arrow leaves the bended bow, To pierce the target of my heart, ah! knowI am the master yet of my own fate.Thou canst not rob me of my best estate,Though fortune, fame, […]

“All that I ask,” says Love, “is just to standAnd gaze, unchided, deep in thy dear eyes;For in their depths lies largest Paradise.Yet, if perchance one pressure of thy handBe granted me, then joy I thought completeWere still more sweet. “All that I ask,” says Love, “all that I ask,Is just thy hand-clasp. Could I […]

Here, in the heart of the world,Here, in the noise and the din,Here, where our spirits were hurledTo battle with sorrow and sin,This is the place and the spotFor knowledge of infinite thingsThis is the kingdom where ThoughtCan conquer the prowess of kings Wait for no heavenly life,Seek for no temple alone;Here, in the midst […]

You never can tell when you send a word,Like an arrow shot from a bowBy an archer blind, be it cruel or kind,Just where it may chance to go!It may pierce the breast of your dearest friend,Tipped with its poison or balm;To a stranger’s heart in life’s great mart,It may carry its pain or its […]

I hold it the duty of one who is giftedAnd specially dowered in all men’s sight,To know no rest till his life is liftedFully up to his great gifts’ height. He must mould the man into rare completeness,For gems are set only in gold refined.He must fashion his thoughts into perfect sweetness.And cast out folly […]

Let no man pray that he know not sorrow,Let no soul ask to be free from pain,For the gall of to-day is the sweet of to-morrow,And the moment’s loss is the lifetime’s gain. Through want of a thing does its worth redouble,Through hunger’s pangs does the feast content,And only the heart that has harboured troubleCan […]

God measures souls by their capacityFor entertaining his best Angel, Love.Who loveth most is nearest kin to God,Who is all Love, or Nothing. He who sitsAnd looks out on the palpitating world,And feels his heart swell in him large enoughTo hold all men within it, he is nearHis great Creator’s standard, though he dwellsOutside the […]

However the battle is ended,Though proudly the victor comesWith fluttering flags and prancing nagsAnd echoing roll of drums,Still truth proclaims this mottoIn letters of living light, –No question is ever settledUntil it is settled right. Though the heel of the strong oppressorMay grind the weak in the dust;And the voices of fame with one acclaimMay […]