Part 17

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.