The knightly legend on thy shield betrays The moral of thy life; a forecast wise, And that large honor that deceit defies, Inspired thy fathers in the elder days, Who decked thy scutcheon with that sturdy phrase, _To be, rather than seem._ As eve's red skies Surpass the morning's rosy prophecies, Thy life to that proud boast its answer pays, Scorning thy faith and purpose to defend. The ever-mutable multitude at last Will hail the power they did not comprehend-- Thy fame will broaden through the centuries; As, storm and billowy tumult overpast, The moon rules calmly o'er the conquered seas.
Man was not made for forms, but forms for man, And there are times when law itself must bend To that clear spirit always in the van, Outspeeding human justice. In the end Potentates, not humanity, must fall. Water will find its level, fire will burn, The winds must blow around the earthly ball, The earthly ball by day and night must turn; Freedom is typed in every element, Man must be free, if not through law, why then Above the law, until its force be spent And justice brings a better. But, O, when, Father of Light, when shall the reckoning come To lift the weak, and strike the oppressor dumb.
What I am, what I am not, in the eye Of the world, is what I never cared for much.
To keep my health; To do my work; To live; To see to it that I grow and gain and give; Never to look behind me for an hour; To wait in meekness, and to walk in power; But always fronting onward, to the light, Always and always facing toward the right. Robbed, starved, defeated, fallen, wide-astray-- On, with what strength I have-- Back to the way.
I do not ask for any crown But that which all may win; Nor try to conquer any world Except the one within. Be thou my guide until I find Led by a tender hand, The happy kingdom in myself And dare to take command.
This is my creed, This is 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!
Forth with thy thought! Soon 'twill be naught, And thou in thy tomb. Now is air, now is room. Down with false shame; 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!"