Classic Poem

I have said yes to life, I take nothing back:
When the tide has gone against me I have said yes to life,
In the hour of dismay as well as in the hour of conquest I have said yes to life,
When life has been quoted against virtue and justice I have said yes to life,
Is the battle lost? I still say yes, forever yes, to life.
I went where evil was freest and did its worst,
I went into the darkest places where joy was rated very low:
Wherever I went I carried my yes with me—
Carried it with me in my heart, in my face, in my words,
Carried it with me when I stroked the forehead of the sick man,
Carried it with me cooling the fevers of the race,
Carried it with me tempering the cold out of the north—
My eternal yes—the lifeboat setting out from wrecks.
Whatever was the danger my yes was on the spot immortally rescuing those who struggle,
My yes went to the starving as food and drink,
My yes went to the surfeited as purity and abstinence,
My yes went to those who stole as restitution,
My yes went to the poor as plenty and enough.
After beauty is most beautiful my yes is more beautiful still,
After power is most powerful my yes is more powerful still,
After love is most loving my yes is more loving still,
Whatever is best and holiest my yes is better and more holy still.
My yes does not go to cruelty and shame to absolve cruelty and shame—
My yes goes to cruelty as gentleness and to shame as recuperation.
You have conceded the splendor of the sun in the sky—
I come to you expecting a concession to the superior splendor of my yes, my yes to life:
My yes is the thing that precedes the seed in the ground and follows the harvest,
Before my yes all the players of day and night rehearse their parts
Is my yes to be made no in the fret of the sorrow of the world?
Are you to bring me totals of dubious figures and frighten my yes to no?
My yes does not look for, it bestows, approval:
It takes life at life's best and life's worst and remains the yes of its firstborn faith,
It gives itself once for all to life and never takes anything back.
Life does not always seem to say yes to me yet I always say yes to life:
Yes to life when I understand life: yes to life when I do not understand life:
When I go to life or stay with life with my yes life always finally answers yes back.
Are you afraid to say yes to life for yourself?
Do you stand trembling on the shores afraid to put off upon the inviting waters?
Beyond me is my yes forever carrying me on:
The yes sailing my ship, the yes with forthreached hands at the end of the voyage.
Do you not see dear brother how dangerous it is to be alone with no in the world?
Do you not see dear brother how safe it is to be alone with yes in the world?
Dear brother I have said yes to life, sternly yes, lovingly yes,
I have said yes to life, I take nothing back.