Rhymes of a Rolling Stone/The World's All Right

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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.