one: “I warned my fellow-men from sin;”
Another: “I was teacher of the faith;
I scorned my life and lived in love with death.”

And one stood silent.  “Speak!” the Angel said;
   “What earthly deed has sent you here today?”
“Alas!  I did but follow where they led,”
   He answered sadly: “I had lost my way—
So new the country, and so strange my flight;
I only sought for guidance and for light.”

“You have no passport?”  “None,” the answer came.
   “I loved the earth, tho’ lowly was my lot.
I strove to keep my record free from blame,
   And make a heaven about my humble spot.
A narrow life; I see it now, too late;
So, Angel, drive me from the heavenly gate.”

The Angel swung the portal wide and free,
   And took the sorrowing stranger by the hand.
“Nay, you alone,” he said, “shall come with me,
   Of all this waiting and insistent band.
Of what God gave, you built your paradise;
Behold your mansion waiting in the skies.”

The Nameless.

UNNUMBERED gods may unremembered die;
A thousand creeds may perish and pass by;
Yet do I lift mine eyes to ONE on high.

Unnamed be HE from whom creation came;
There is no word whereby to speak His name
But petty men have mouthed it into shame.

I lift mine eyes, and with a river’s force
My love’s full tide goes sweeping on its course
To that supreme and all embracing Source.

Then back through all those thirsting channels roll
The mighty billows of the Over Soul.
And I am He, the portion and the Whole.

As little streams before the flood tide flee,
As rivers vanish to become the sea,
The I exists no more, for I AM HE.

The Word.

OH, a word is a gem, or a stone, or a song,
   Or a flame, or a two-edged sword;
Or a rose in bloom, or a sweet perfume,
   Or a drop of gall, is a word.

You may choose your word like a connoisseur,
   And polish it up with art,
But the word that sways, and stirs, and stays,
   Is the word that comes from the heart.

You may work on your word a thousand weeks,
   But it will not glow like one
That all unsought, leaps forth white hot,
   When the fountains of feeling run.

You may hammer away on the anvil of thought,
   And fashion your word with care,
But unless you are stirred to the depths, that word
   Shall die on the empty air.

For the word that comes from the brain alone,
   Alone to the brain will speed;
But the word that sways, and stirs, and stays,
   Oh! that is the word men heed.

Assistance.

LEAN on no mortal, Love, and serve;
(For service is love’s complement),
But it was never God’s intent,
Your spirit from its path should swerve,
To gain another’s point of view.
As well might Jupiter, or Mars
Go seeking help from other stars,
Instead of sweeping ON, as you.
Look to the Great Eternal Cause
And not to any man, for light.
Look in; and learn the wrong, and right,
From your own soul’s unwritten laws.
And when you question, or demur,
Let Love be your Interpreter.