Classic Poem

Inheritor of ages, Youth of Man!—
In you the Past inheres, on you the Future waits;
All that is wholesome or useful or fair or true,
All Knowledge, all Beauty, all Goodness, all Joy,—
Breath of the soul, wine of man's immortality,—
All Justice and Fair-dealing,
All Freedom and all Hope,
All fruits and flowers of the earth's fecundity,—
All wait upon you … If you fail, God fails!

Death and Corruption close in upon you,
Press upon you, conspiring to choke your manhood,
To reduce you to the clay of a sodden worm;
Hypocrisy and cowardice connive to capture you,
Lusts lay their snares for your feet;
For Man dies not once but many times,
And the jungle lies two steps behind…
Before you, shining, resplendent,—
Bathed in the morning glory of an eternal dream,
Behold, the City of the Sun—the Great Community!

Alert! Be gently but firmly defiant!
Let none master,—no, nor silence you!
Let none think,—no, nor speak for you!
Take nothing for granted—
Neither security, freedom, nor justice,
Above all take no love for granted…
These things you must create.
Dismiss all thoughts of revenge,—
There is no time for it;
Those who have injured you—if you have been injured—
Did so because they were cowards, or knew no better;
Shame and oblivion will take vengeance upon them;
Do not forgive them: pity them and pass on.

Be not deceived: those who are wiser than you
Will read your quality in your eyes,
You can conceal nothing;—it is the law.
Have I heard you say that crime and craft
And cruelty and fraud and force,
So lord it over the chaos of our world
That Justice and Honor and Merit and Good-will,
Fair-dealing, Trustworthiness, Charity and Peace—
That these are but ornaments of a forgotten age?
If this is so, yours is the blame!
These realities were never more real;
For the world is nothing in itself:
It is yours to master and to glorify,—
Yours to deprave!
All else perishes; mind alone remains.

Was there ever a just or heroic deed performed?
A young man performed it
And you can perform it now!
There is no justice on our earth or above it
Save as you proclaim it and make it your concern.
Not what you regret, but what you are,
And more—the thing you will be,—
This is what survives.

Rise, Freeman, and claim your heritage!
You will find Beauty that sublimates all pain,
That conquers fear and lights the souls of men;
You will find Freedom and Courage and Joy,
Honor and Health and Love, and lo!—
When the peace of twilight falls,
One will come and take you by the hand
And lead you beyond that cool river that is Death.

Rise, Freeman, and claim your heritage!
If you fail, all fails,—
For you are a gardener in the vineyard of God!