= Preparation =

We must not force events, but rather make

The heart soil ready for their coming, as

The earth spreads carpets for the feet of Spring,

Or, with the strengthening tonic of the frost,

Prepares for Winter. Should a July noon

Burst suddenly upon a frozen world

Small joy would follow, even tho’ that world

Were longing for the Summer. Should the sting

Of sharp December pierce the heart of June,

What death and devastation would ensue!

All things are planned. The most majestic sphere

That whirls through space is governed and controlled

By supreme law, as is the blade of grass

Which through the bursting bosom of the earth

Creeps up to kiss the light. Poor puny man

Alone doth strive and battle with the Force

Which rules all lives and worlds, and he alone

Demands effect before producing cause.

How vain the hope! We cannot harvest joy

Until we sow the seed, and God alone

Knows when that seed has ripened. Oft we stand

And watch the ground with anxious brooding eyes

Complaining of the slow unfruitful yield,

Not knowing that the shadow of ourselves

Keeps off the sunlight and delays result.

Sometimes our fierce impatience of desire

Doth like a sultry May force tender shoots

Of half-formed pleasures and unshaped events

To ripen prematurely, and we reap

But disappointment; or we rot the germs

With briny tears ere they have time to grow.

While stars are born and mighty planets die

And hissing comets scorch the brow of space

The Universe keeps its eternal calm.

Through patient preparation, year on year,

The earth endures the travail of the Spring

And Winter's desolation. So our souls

In grand submission to a higher law

Should move serene through all the ills of life,

Believing them masked joys.