ARISE!

Rise from thy couch, O drowsy mortal, rise,
And lose not thus, in sleep, the wonder of
A golden dawn-of-day! Yon roseate cliffs
Encircle the still bay; and tenderly
The sun doth gently touch a slumb'ring world.
Hark! Ev'ry bird awakens with a song,
And fragrant praise springs from each silent flower.
Awake, O backward mortal, sunk in ease;
The sun of Truth is rising in thy heart,
And sendest thou not forth its healing rays
In fervent, peaceful prayer for all mankind,
Bereft of Soul's pure joy, weighted with fear,
Sunken in sin they loathe and fain would quit,
And groping for a God they cannot find?
Arise! and bid these truant children turn
And speed with thee along the narrow way
That straitly, wisely, leadeth up to Heav'n
(Eye hath not seen this path: thought finds it when,
Purged of dross, it rises, less earth-bound.)
Tell them that purity, and Truth, and Life
Are beckoning. Tell them man ne'er has lost
His Father's love, more steadfast than the sun.
Tell them that good supreme is ev'rywhere;
That evil cannot reach them, harm them, tempt them,
'Tis but a lie, the child of ignorance
And slain by knowledge grafted on the truth.
Then rise, O mortals, rise! Unite with us
And herald in th' eternal dawn of Truth!
All nature stirs in wonder at its touch,
And ev'ry bird awakens with a song.