 | Poems |  |
98
FREE THINKING.
Think it all out to the uttermost! Think it all out!
Plunge through the thick of the battle! Exult in the strife!
What! there is fever in thinking—torture in doubt—
Will that allow thee to shrink from the burden of life?
Plunge through the thick of the battle! Exult in the strife!
What! there is fever in thinking—torture in doubt—
Will that allow thee to shrink from the burden of life?
Say, wert thou fashioned for pleasure and heedless repose?
Are these the end of thy being? The goal of thy years?
No—for thy bliss must be born after travail and throes—
No—thou must smile, if thou smilest, through passionate tears.
Are these the end of thy being? The goal of thy years?
No—for thy bliss must be born after travail and throes—
No—thou must smile, if thou smilest, through passionate tears.
Remember the fate of the Lydian, impatient to drink,
Impatient to reach the ripe clusters of smooth luscious fruit,
How the clusters drew back from his touch, and the waters would shrink
And vanish from sight as he followed, and mock his pursuit.
Impatient to reach the ripe clusters of smooth luscious fruit,
How the clusters drew back from his touch, and the waters would shrink
And vanish from sight as he followed, and mock his pursuit.
99
So will it be if, a coward, thou cravest to find
The bliss thou art heir to, in filling each moment with ease,
In cutting away all that troubles the peace of thy mind,
In seeking whatever will soothe thee, or flatter, or please:
The bliss thou art heir to, in filling each moment with ease,
In cutting away all that troubles the peace of thy mind,
In seeking whatever will soothe thee, or flatter, or please:
If thou cravest to glide with the current of life, as a boat
In a still summer night, on a river unrippled and wide,
Through the mingling of mist and of moonlight may float
Languidly down with the noiselessly murmuring tide.
In a still summer night, on a river unrippled and wide,
Through the mingling of mist and of moonlight may float
Languidly down with the noiselessly murmuring tide.
Rather as some gallant swimmer, who cleaves at each stroke
The might of the waters, and stems them, though stormy and strong;
So battled some with the waves, when thought's tempest awoke,
And the torrents of doubt and bewilderment swept them along.
The might of the waters, and stems them, though stormy and strong;
So battled some with the waves, when thought's tempest awoke,
And the torrents of doubt and bewilderment swept them along.
100
So do thou battle whenever the billows arise,
And the storm-clouds are gathered above thee to darken thy days,
Weary thy spirit with thinking, fever thine eyes,
Think out a key to the riddle, a clue to the maze.
And the storm-clouds are gathered above thee to darken thy days,
Weary thy spirit with thinking, fever thine eyes,
Think out a key to the riddle, a clue to the maze.
“Why should we weary our spirits with thinking it out?
Is it not written the answer, shall we not look
Into the leaves—it is there—it is treason to doubt—
Into the leaves of the One and Infallible Book?”
Is it not written the answer, shall we not look
Into the leaves—it is there—it is treason to doubt—
Into the leaves of the One and Infallible Book?”
Nay—but to doubt is the holiest duty of life:
What if the Book be of God, yet our vision is dim:
Still undiscerned are the treasures wherewith it is rife:
God can interpret alone what is written of Him.
What if the Book be of God, yet our vision is dim:
Still undiscerned are the treasures wherewith it is rife:
God can interpret alone what is written of Him.
“Ah! but the Church can interpret—the Church is divine:”
Fools! we would cast in our moulds the light golden and free,
Circle the Spirit of God with a hard boundary-line—
Shut into dead stagnant shallows the waves of the sea.
Fools! we would cast in our moulds the light golden and free,
Circle the Spirit of God with a hard boundary-line—
Shut into dead stagnant shallows the waves of the sea.
101
Frail is our best and imperfect—the old and the new:
Else were it easy the face of the Godhead to scan:
Search for the glory of God in His Heaven of blue,
Deep in the fathomless depths of the spirit of man:
Else were it easy the face of the Godhead to scan:
Search for the glory of God in His Heaven of blue,
Deep in the fathomless depths of the spirit of man:
Deep in the depths unattained to—undreamt of as yet:—
'Tis but a scratch on the surface—the best we have done:—
Think of the infinite work unachieved, and forget
All that the toil of the ages before thee has won.
'Tis but a scratch on the surface—the best we have done:—
Think of the infinite work unachieved, and forget
All that the toil of the ages before thee has won.
“Oh! but we want something definite”—want it forsooth;—
What, shall our very infirmities guide us aright?
Say, is our need and our weakness the standard of truth?
Say, is the film of our blindness the measure of light?
What, shall our very infirmities guide us aright?
Say, is our need and our weakness the standard of truth?
Say, is the film of our blindness the measure of light?
“Think if you will,” says another, “I care not a whit:
What is the profit of looking behind and before?
Let the to-morrow alone: we live not in it:
Give to to-day what belongs to it—that and no more
What is the profit of looking behind and before?
Let the to-morrow alone: we live not in it:
Give to to-day what belongs to it—that and no more
102
“Give to each moment its due: to each natural lust
Just what it asks for, and life will be faultless and full:”
Try it—I answer—your apples will crumble to dust;
Live for each moment and learn that each moment is null.
Just what it asks for, and life will be faultless and full:”
Try it—I answer—your apples will crumble to dust;
Live for each moment and learn that each moment is null.
“Yes,” but another will say, “all our thinking is vain:
Still is the mystery unfathomed, the riddle unguessed.
Were it not better to follow the path that is plain?
Better to do at each moment the thing that is best.”
Still is the mystery unfathomed, the riddle unguessed.
Were it not better to follow the path that is plain?
Better to do at each moment the thing that is best.”
Best—is it easy to see what is best? If we see,
'Tis with the eyes of the ages,—the heir-loom of years.
As is the thought of the world, so its action will be:
Slowly—we grope in the twilight—the pathway appears,—
'Tis with the eyes of the ages,—the heir-loom of years.
As is the thought of the world, so its action will be:
Slowly—we grope in the twilight—the pathway appears,—
Dimly discerned by the foremost—the seers of mankind—
Sages whose souls are athirst for the vision of God.
Theirs to think out and discover—we follow behind,
Treading with confident steps where our leaders have trod.
Sages whose souls are athirst for the vision of God.
Theirs to think out and discover—we follow behind,
Treading with confident steps where our leaders have trod.
103
As is the thought of the world, so its action will be,—
Action is reason embodied, and in it we reach
Thought that is truer than words, thought boundless and free;
Action at last is the Spirit's unfaltering speech.
Action is reason embodied, and in it we reach
Thought that is truer than words, thought boundless and free;
Action at last is the Spirit's unfaltering speech.
Ay, but the stress of our thinking must cleave us a way
Ere through our practice we widen the world of our ken:
Even a guess has been mighty to stir and to sway
Cycle on cycle of years, and million on million of men.
Ere through our practice we widen the world of our ken:
Even a guess has been mighty to stir and to sway
Cycle on cycle of years, and million on million of men.
Think it all out then, and trust that hereafter the light
Out of the gloom that enfolds thee will dawn and arise.
Do not despair—though the lamps of thy darkness be bright—
See! the first glimmer of daybreak is changing the skies.
Out of the gloom that enfolds thee will dawn and arise.
Do not despair—though the lamps of thy darkness be bright—
See! the first glimmer of daybreak is changing the skies.
Think it all out, and when thinking is baffled and fails,
Life shall resolve the enigma, and answer thy doubt:
Face with unwavering spirit each foe that assails:
Think it all out to the uttermost, think it all out.
Life shall resolve the enigma, and answer thy doubt:
Face with unwavering spirit each foe that assails:
Think it all out to the uttermost, think it all out.
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