THE LEADER OF THE LEGENDS IN ALL THE CENTURIES

POEMS AND PEACE

I, TRUTH, AM THY REDEEMER

I, Truth, am thy Redeemer, come to Me;

Lay down thy sin and pain and wild unrest;

And I will calm thy spirit’s stormy sea,

Pouring the oil of peace upon thy breast;

 Friendless and – lo, I abide with thee.

Defeated and deserted, cast away;

What refuge has thou? Whither canst thou fly?

Upon My changeless breast thy burdens by;

I Am thy certain refuge, even I;

All things are passing; I along can say.

Lo I, the Great Forsaken, Am the friend

Of the forsaken; I, whom men despise,

The weak the helpless and despised defeated defend;

I gladden aching hearts and weeping eyes;

Rest thou Me, I Am thy sorrow’s end.

Lovers and friends and wealth and pleasures and fame

These fail and change, and pass into decay;

But My love does not change; and in thy blame

I blame thee not, nor turn My face away;

In My calm bosom hide thy sin and shame.

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I TAKE REFUGE IN TRUTH

I come to thee, o Master! On thy breast

I lay my weary head; I lay at thy feet

With tears and kisses, travail of my quest;

I bring my aching heart and sore defeat,

And seek thy holy joy an perfect rest.

Place thou thy Hand upon my burning brow;

Soothe thou my soul, and bid my sin depart;

I ask thy sweet salvation even now;

Thy rest I seek to ease my throbbing heart;

Thou art the Truth, to thee I cling and bow.

Thou changest not amid Earth’s changing scenes;

All worldly joys, strong passions that decay’

The solid thought, the action that demeans,

These are not thee, and they will pass away;

O thy abiding strength my spirit leans.

Lead thou my feet unto thy Holy place;

I take thy chastening; thy great love I see’

Thy rod I kiss and in my deep disgrace,

With longing, humble heart I cling to thee,

Knowing thou wilt not turns away thy face.

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THE WHITE ROBE

The White Robe of the Heart Invisible

Is stained with sin and sorrow, grief and pain,

And all repentant pools and springs of prayer

Shall not avail to wash it white again.

While in the path of ignorance I walk,

 The stains of error will not cease to cling;

Defilements mark the crooked path of self,

Where anguish lurks and disappointments sting.

Knowledge and wisdom only can avail

To purify and make my garment clean,

For therein lie love’s water; therein rest

Peace undisturbed, eternal and serene.

Sin and repentance is the path of pain,

Knowledge and wisdom is the path of peace;

By the near way of practice I will find

Where bliss begins, how pain and sorrows cease.

Self shall depart, and Truth shall take its place;

The Changeless Once, the indivisible

Shall take up His abode in me, and cleanse

The White Robe of the Heart Invisible.

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THE RIGHTEOUS MAN

No harmful shaft can reach the righteous man,

Standing erect amid the storms of hate,

Defying hurt and injury ban,

Surrounding by the trembling slaves of fate.

Majestic in the strength of silent power,

Serene he stands, nor changes not nor turns,

Patient and firm in suffering’s darkest hour,

Time bend to him and death and doom be spurns.

Wrath’s lurid lighting round about him play,

And hells deep thunderous roll about his Head;

Yet heeds he not, for him they cannot slay

Who stands whence earth and time and space are fled.

Sheltered by deathless love, what fear hath he?

Armoured in changeless Truth, what can be know

Of love and pain? Know eternity,

He moves not while the shadows come and go.

Call him immortal, call him Truth and Light

And splendor of prophetic majesty

Who bideth thus amid the powers of Night,

Clothed with the Glory of divinity,

The righteous man a life of dignity.

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CHOICE

The will to evil and will to Good

And both within thee; which will thou employ!

Thou knowest what is right and what a wrong;

Which wilt thou love ad footed! Which destroy!

Thou art the chooser of thy thoughts and deeds;

Thou art maker of thine inward state;

The power is thine to be what thou wilt be;

Thou buildest Truth and Love, or lies and hate.

If thou dost choose evil, loving self;

Thy cries and prayers for Good shall all be vain;

Thy thought and act bringeth thee good or ill;

Deep in thy heart thou makes joy and pain.

As thou pursues Good, striving to make

Evil depart, thou shall rejoice and say,–

“Lo! Light and Love and Peace attend on me;

Truth fadeth not, and Good abounds always.”

Choose as thou wilt thy thoughts and words and deeds,

And as thou choosest so shall be thy life;

The will of Good shall bring thee Joy and Peace,

The will to evil, wretchedness and strife.

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TRUTH TRIUMPHANT

There is no height to which thou canst not climbs,

There is no grandeur that thou may’st not view,

If thou wilt reach beyond the things of Time,

Unto the pure, the Beautiful, the Truth.

There is no saintly vision, no glad sight

Of seer, nor no dream of holy sage

But may be thine, nay, is thy heavenly right,

If thou wilt claim thy regal appanage.

There is no sin but thou may’st overthrow;

There is no vileness that, octopus-like

Binds thee its victim, but thou soon canst know

The way and weapon thy strong for to strife.

Thou art no framed for sin and grief and shame;

Thou art not bent to grovel in the mire;

But thou art made erect, and given a name,

Hast hands to reach, and spirit to aspire.

Glory and strength and triumph—these are thine;

Rise up, and conquer every inward foe;

Behold the heavens, how radiantly they shine! Stand up and strike, o conqueror of woe!

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O THOU WHO WOULD’ST TEACH

O thou who would’st men of Truth!

Hast thou passed through the desert of doubt?

Art thou purged by the fires of sorrow?

Hath ruth

The fiends of opinion east out

Of thy human heart? Is thy soul so fair?

That no false though can ever harbor there?

O thou who would’st teach men love!

Hast thou passed through the place of despair?

Hast thou wept through the dark night grief?

Does t move?

(Now feed from it sorrow and care)

Thy human heart to pitying gentleness,

Looking on wrong, and hate, and ceaseless stress?

O thou would’st teach men of Peace!

Hast thou crossed the wide ocean of strife!

Hast thou found on the Shores of the Silence, release

From all the wild unrest of life?

From thy human heart hath all striving gone,

Leaving but Truth, and Love, and Peace alone?

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IF THOU WOUL’ST RIGHT THE WORLD

If thou woul’st right the world,

And banish all its evils and its woes,

Make its wild places bloom,

And its drear deserts bloom as the rose,

Then right thyself.

If thou woul’st turn the world,

From its long, lone captivity in sin,

Restore all broken hearts,

Slay grief, and let sweet consolation in,–

Turn thou thyself.

If thou woul’st cure the world

Of its long sickness, end its grief and pain,

Bring in all-healing joy,

And give to the afflicted rest again, —

The cure thyself.

If thou would’st wake the world

Out of its dreams of death and dark’ning strife,

Bring it to Love and Peace,

And Light and brightness of immortal Life,–

Wake thou thyself.

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THE END OF EVIL

All evil passes from us when we find

The way of good; when word and deed and mind

Are shaped to Truth and Wisdom; then we see

The end of bondage and captivity.

All good is ever with us; we but want

Wisdom to take it; we are poor and scant

Only in lacking wisdom; that acquired,

The good is ours that we so long desired.

Be still, my soul, and know that peace is thine;

Be steadfast, heart, and know that strength divine

Belongs to thee; cease from thy turmoil, mind,

And thou the Everlasting rest shalt find.

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MAN DIVINE

Man is superior to sin and shame,

Evil and error he will yet dethrone,

The beast within he will o’ercome and tame,

The brute will pass, the angel will be known;

Yea, even now the Man divine appears,

Crowned with conquest, victor o’er all fears.

Hail to thee, Man divine! The conqueror

Of sin and shame and sorrow; no more weak,

Wormlike and groveling art thou; no, nor

Wilt thou again bow down to things that wreak

Scourging and death upon thee, thou doest rise

Triumphant in thy strength; good, pure, and wise.

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PATIENCE

Why this fierce struggle to achieve thine ends?

This selfish argument? This fire which lends

Heat to resentment, ashes to remorse?

Canst thou bend Truth and Nature to thy will?

Bend thou, and work, and wait; be strong and still;

Soft growth is stronger than vehement force.

Be as a flower, content to be, to grow

In sweetness and day by day; content to know

The hidden blessing in the seeming curse,

A child of Love, unargumentative;

Content to be and know—–as thou dost live—

The simple secret of the Universe.

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RESTORED

Eager for strife and struggle, and self and pain,

And heeding not the gentle Voice of Truth,

We strive and wrestle in dark ways of pain,

And, blind and lost in passion, we disdain

The unobtrusive Way of Love and Truth;

So live we on in sorrow and in woe,

Nor rest can find, nor blessed gladness know.

Tired of strife and anger, hate and pain,

And weary of the wrangling of the Schools,

We turn, and look into your face again,

Beloved brother, sister; nor in vain

 Search we with pure eyes; but as in pools

Soft, deep, and silent, gaze we, finding rest;

So pass we on our way, refreshed and blest.

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IMMORALITY

He shall not die who seek the Way of Truth;

He shall not see corruption who doth walk

With stainless feet the path of Purity;

He shall not wander in dark worlds woe

Who finds the Gate of Good and enters; there,

For he shall taste of immortality

While feasting at the table of his Lord.

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ARE YOU SEARCHING?

Are you searching for happiness that does not fade away?

Are you looking for joy that lives, and leaves no grievous day?

Are you panting for the waterbrooks of Love, and Life, and Peace?

Then let all dark desires depart, and selfish seeking cease.

Are you ling’ring in the paths of pain,

Grief-haunted, stricken sore?

Are you wand’ring in the ways that wound your weary feet the more?

Are you sighing for the Resting-Place where tears and sorrows cease?

Then sacrifice the heart of self, and find the Heart of peace.