Rhymes of a Rolling Stone

The World's All Right

               Be honest, kindly, simple, true;
               Seek good in all, scorn but pretence;
               Whatever sorrow come to you,
               Believe in Life's Beneficence!

     The World's all right; serene I sit,
     And cease to puzzle over it.
     There's much that's mighty strange, no doubt;
     But Nature knows what she's about;
     And in a million years or so
     We'll know more than to-day we know.
     Old Evolution's under way —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     Could things be other than they are?
     All's in its place, from mote to star.
     The thistledown that flits and flies
     Could drift no hair-breadth otherwise.
     What is, must be; with rhythmic laws
     All Nature chimes, Effect and Cause.
     The sand-grain and the sun obey —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     Just try to get the Cosmic touch,
     The sense that "you" don't matter much.
     A million stars are in the sky;
     A million planets plunge and die;
     A million million men are sped;
     A million million wait ahead.
     Each plays his part and has his day —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     Just try to get the Chemic view:
     A million million lives made "you".
     In lives a million you will be
     Immortal down Eternity;
     Immortal on this earth to range,
     With never death, but ever change.
     You always were, and will be aye —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     Be glad!  And do not blindly grope
     For Truth that lies beyond our scope:
     A sober plot informeth all
     Of Life's uproarious carnival.
     Your day is such a little one,
     A gnat that lives from sun to sun;
     Yet gnat and you have parts to play —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     And though it's written from the start,
     Just act your best your little part.
     Just be as happy as you can,
     And serve your kind, and die — a man.
     Just live the good that in you lies,
     And seek no guerdon of the skies;
     Just make your Heaven here, to-day —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     Remember! in Creation's swing
     The Race and not the man's the thing.
     There's battle, murder, sudden death,
     And pestilence, with poisoned breath.
     Yet quick forgotten are such woes;
     On, on the stream of Being flows.
     Truth, Beauty, Love uphold their sway —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.

     The World's all right; serene I sit,
     And joy that I am part of it;
     And put my trust in Nature's plan,
     And try to aid her all I can;
     Content to pass, if in my place
     I've served the uplift of the Race.
     Truth! Beauty! Love!  O Radiant Day —
         What ho! the World's all right, I say.