A Soul's Soliloquy

Today the journey is ended,
I have worked out the mandates of fate;
Naked, alone, undefended,
I knock at the uttermost gate.
Beyond is life and it's longing,
Its trial, its trouble, its sorrow;
Beyond is the infinate morning
Of a day without a tomorrow.

Go back to dust and decay,
Body, grown weary and old;
You are worthless to me from today-
No longer my soul can you hold.
I lay you down gladly forever
For a life that is better than this;
I go where partings ne'er sever
You into oblivions abyss.

Lo, the gate swings wide at my knocking,
Across endless reaches I see
Lost friends with laughter come flocking
To give a welcome to me.
Farewell, the maze has been threaded,
This is the ending of strife;
Say not that death should be dreaded-
'Tis but the beginning of life.

~Wenonah Stevens Abbott~

Our Heros

Here's a hand to the boy who has courage
To do what he knows to be right;
When he falls in the way of temptation,
He has a hard battle to fight.

Who strives against self and his comrades
Will find a most powerful foe.
All honor to him if he conquers.
A cheer for the boy who says "NO!"

There's many a battle fought daily
The world knows nothing about;
There's many a brave little soldier
Whose strength puts a legion to rout.

And he who fights sin singlehanded
Is more of a hero, I say,
Than he who leads soldiers to battle
And conquers by arms in the fray.

Be steadfast, my boy, when you're tempted,
To do what you know to be right.
Stand firm by the colors of manhood,
And you will o'ercome the fight.

"The right," be your battle cry ever
In waging the warfare of life,
And God, who knows who are the heroes,
Will give you the strength for the strife.

~Phoebe Cary~

It Couldn't Be Done

Somebody said that it couldn't be done,
But he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn't," but he would be one
who wouldn't say so till he tried.
So he buckled right in with a trace of a grin
On his face. If he worriedhe hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you'll neever do that;
At least no one ever has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
And the first thing we knew he'd begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
That couldn't be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you, one by one,
The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle in with a trace of a grin,
Just take off your coatand go to it;
Just start to sing as you tackle the thing
That "cannot be done," and you'll do it.

~Edgar A. Guest~

Hold Fast Your Dreams

Hold fast your dreams!
Within your heart
Keep one still, secret spot
Where dreams may go,
And, sheltered so,
May thrive and grow
Where doubt and fear are not.
O keep a place apart,
Within your heart,
For little dreams to go.

Think still of lovely things that are not true.
Let wish and magic work at will for you.
Be sometimes blind to sorrow. Make believe!
Forget the calm that lies
In disillusiond eyes.
Though we all know that we must die,
Yet you and I
May walk like gods and be
Even now at home in immortality.

We see so many ugly things-
Deceits and wrongs and quarrelings;
We know, alas! we know
How quickly fade
The color in the west,
The bloom upon the flower,
The blomm upon the breast
And youth's blind hour.
Yet keep within you heart
A place apart
Where little dreams may go,
May thrive and grow.
Hold fast-hold fast your dreams!

~Louise Driscoll~