Classic Poem

When your name is called,
When out of the press of the crowd and the noise of the street you hear your name pronounced,
When you sleep at night and your name is called in your dreams,
When you work and play and your name is called from your task and your game,
When the church calls your name, when the state calls your name,
When the happy and unhappy world of average men calls your name in a loud voice,
What then O brother can you answer?

Have you been faithful dear brother?
I do not ask whether you have been faithful to the laws,
I do not ask whether you have been faithful to constitutions or creeds,
I do not ask whether you have been faithful to the line of life marked out for you by any other,
I ask whether you have been faithful to yourself,
I ask whether you have been faithful to that self your self which gives its faith to man in the largest service.
I do not call any roll for you my brother:
I expect you to call the roll for yourself.
The best questions and answers of the soul are always to itself.

When your name is called dear brother,
Will you answer to that name with your soul or with your estate?
Will you answer in the poverty of the man who has much and keeps nothing?
Will you answer in the riches of the man who fences himself aloof from his race?
Will you answer in the accents of the tyrant and the thief?
Will you receive your name spoken in gladness and send it back clothed in rue?
Will you answer to your name that your name is success but that the name of your neighbor is failure?
Will you answer to your name by the tongue of a delegate or will you answer to your name with your own lips?

Dear brother, I am not here to persuade you or to accuse you,
I am here asking a question which you must answer.
I am not here asking a question which you must answer to me,
I am here asking a question which you must answer to yourself.
It would be nothing to you dear brother to answer this question in a way to satisfy me,
It would be everything to you dear brother to answer this question in a way to satisfy yourself.

When your name is called dear brother,
When the wrong of the world calls your name,
When the starved children of the world call your name,
When the wars of the world call your name,
When something in the day lighter than the sun calls your name,
When something in the night darker than night's darkness calls your name,
When something in the heart more sorrowful than the heart's sorrow calls your name,
When something in hope more confident than hope's best assurances calls your name,
What then will you answer dear brother?

Will you answer in the answer of your cruelty to your fellows?
Will you answer in the answer of the fat of your overfed body?
Will you hear your name called and say: Wait, give me time, I have so much booty to bring along?
Or will you hear your name called and say: I am ready, my hands are empty of spoil?
When your name is called dear brother the hour for parley and truce is passed,
When your name is called you must answer offhand with the answer of the spirit.
Without looking about you to question the faces of others,
Without listening about you to hear the answers of others,
You must answer to yourself in the quick of self command
When your name is called.