Progress

Progress

Let there be many windows to your soul,

That all the glory of the universe

May beautify it.

Not the narrow pane

Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays

That shine from countless sources.

Tear away

The blinds of superstition;

let the light

Pour through fair windows broad as truth itself

And high as God.

Why should the spirit peer

Through some priest-curtained orifice, and grope

Along dim corridors of doubt, when all

The splendor from unfathomed seas of space

Might bathe it with the golden waves of Love?

Sweep up the debris of decaying faiths;

Sweep down the cobwebs of worn-out beliefs,

And throw your soul wide open to the light

Of Reason and of Knowledge.

Tune your ear

To all the wordless music of the stars

And to the voice of Nature,

and your heart

Shall turn to truth and goodness as the plant

Turns to the sun.

A thousand unseen hands

Reach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights,

And all the forces of the firmament

Shall fortify your strength.

Be not afraid

To thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole.

~Ella Wheeler Wilcox~