Rosemary and Pansies/To a Devotee
TO A DEVOTEE
Rise from your knees, sick-thoughted sufferer!
Prayer doth but serve to emasculate the soul,
To morbid thoughts holding it prisoner,
And sinking it in ever-deeper dole.
Mistrust of self is cowardice at best,
Prayer unavailing adds but to your pain:
'Tis active work, not passive prayer, makes blest,
Your sin's the figment of a brooding brain.
Stand up and be no more a suppliant slave:
Is God a Genghiz Khan or Tamerlane?
All nature thunders forth one precept brave—
Courage alone the prize of life shall gain.
Weakness above all else the fates despise,
The fearless-hearted only are the wise.
Prayer doth but serve to emasculate the soul,
To morbid thoughts holding it prisoner,
And sinking it in ever-deeper dole.
Mistrust of self is cowardice at best,
Prayer unavailing adds but to your pain:
'Tis active work, not passive prayer, makes blest,
Your sin's the figment of a brooding brain.
Stand up and be no more a suppliant slave:
Is God a Genghiz Khan or Tamerlane?
All nature thunders forth one precept brave—
Courage alone the prize of life shall gain.
Weakness above all else the fates despise,
The fearless-hearted only are the wise.