Myrtle and Myrrh/Onward Keep

by Ameen Rihani

 

ONWARD KEEP

Onward keep! Forget the self that cried:
"This world's a forest choked with ice and snow;
No spark of fire through it can ever ride,
No human flame in it can ever glow."
And keeping onward, now, I find
The golden leaves of yesterday
All safely hidden from the wind
Beneath the snow that melts away,
And on the shivering boughs
New leaves and tender sprout;
They crown the winter's brows,
And laugh away his doubt.
And in the brook
The echoes of
What I forsook—
What I did love.
And the frost
'Neath the breath
Of me must
Welcome death;
And the heat
Left behind
Guides the feet
Of the blind.
Onward keep;
Laugh and weep;
Pain and joy
Hide and peep.
Rise and fall—
Fall and rise;
This is all—
This is wise.