 | The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder |  |
HIDE NOT THY HEART
I
This is my creed,This be my deed:
“Hide not thy heart!”
Soon we depart;
Mortals are all;
A breath, then the pall;
A flash on the dark—
All's done—stiff and stark.
No time for a lie;
The truth, and then die.
Hide not thy heart!
II
Forth with thy thought!Soon 't will be naught,
And thou in thy tomb.
Now is air, now is room.
169
Reck not of fame;
Dread not man's spite;
Quench not thy light.
This be thy creed,
This be thy deed:
“Hide not thy heart!”
III
If Gods is, He madeSunshine and shade,
Heaven and hell;
This we know well.
Dost thou believe?
Do not deceive;
Scorn not thy faith—
If 't is a wraith,
Soon it will fly.
Thou, who must die,
Hide not thy heart!
IV
This is my creed;This be my deed:
Faith, or a doubt,
I shall speak out
And hide not my heart.
| The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder | |