Hope evermore and believe, O man, for e’en as thy thought So are the things that thou see’st; e’en as thy hope and belief. Cowardly art thou and timid? they rise to provoke thee against them; Hast thou courage? enough, see them exulting to yield. Yea, the rough rock, the dull earth, the wild sea’s furying waters (Violent say’st thou and hard, mighty thou think’st to destroy), All with ineffable longing are waiting their Invader, All, with one varying voice, call to him, Come and subdue; Still for their Conqueror call, and, but for the joy of being conquered (Rapture they will not forego), dare to resist and rebel; Still, when resisting and raging, in soft undervoice say unto him, Fear not, retire not, O man; hope evermore and believe. Go from the east to the west, as the sun and the stars direct thee, Go with the girdle of man, go and encompass the earth. Not for the gain of the gold; for the getting, the hoarding, the having, But for the joy of the deed; but for the Duty to do. Go with the spiritual life, the higher volition and action, With the great girdle of God, go and encompass the earth. Go; say not in thy heart, And what then were it accomplished, Were the wild impulse allayed, what were the use or the good! Go, when the instinct is stilled, and when the deed is accomplished, What thou hast done and shalt do, shall be declared to thee then. Go with the sun and the stars, and yet evermore in thy spirit Say to thyself: It is good: yet is there better than it. This that I see is not all, and this that I do is but little; Nevertheless it is good, though there is better than it. _BLESSED ARE THEY THAT HAVE NOT SEEN!_ O happy they whose hearts receive The implanted word with faith; believe Because their fathers did before, Because they learnt, and ask no more. High triumphs of convictions wrought, And won by individual thought; The joy, delusive oft, but keen, Of having with our own eyes seen, What if they have not felt nor known An amplitude instead they own, By no self-binding ordinance prest To toil in labour they detest: By no deceiving reasoning tied Or this or that way to decide. O happy they! above their head The glory of the unseen is spread; Their happy heart is free to range Thro’ largest tracts of pleasant change; Their intellects encradled lie In boundless possibility. For impulses of varying kinds The Ancient Home a lodging finds: Each appetite our nature breeds, It meets with viands for its needs. Oh happy they! nor need they fear The wordy strife that rages near: All reason wastes by day, and more, Will instinct in a night restore. O happy, so their state but give A clue by which a man can live; O blest, unless ’tis proved by fact A dream impossible to act. _COLD COMFORT._