THE SOUL'S HOPE

This hope within removes the dullness from life.
We shall not entirely die. The best of humanity persists,
And in that, man belongs to eternity.
I do not know what range of circumstances
Can offer something so satisfying to the mind
That, after achieving it, one might say:
"If I should die now and completely cease to exist,
I consider it worthwhile that I have lived." Is time
A preface to eternity? Is this
What we men call life some temporary state
Assumed by the conscious and eternal truth
Of real being? If so, then all things are good.
Does the soul live? Then there is nothing trivial
Or insignificant. Eternity includes
Nothing minor or temporary,
And time itself, which is a version of eternity,
Has outcomes that extend through the infinite.
But if the inner voice of testimony,
Which speaks the watchwords of the soul,
Lies in the dark depths of our mystery,
Then life is nothing, for behold, it ends;
And love is nothing, for it ends with life;
And sacrifice made for the well-being weal of others
Is sheer madness! A little while,
And death shall swallow up our entire sacrifice holocaust,
While that for which the sacrifice was made
Is swallowed up too. What then is left of anything,
And what is the profit? Yes, to improve the human race
And to develop educe to its highest point
The stature of humanity—even that
Is nothing and serves no purpose at the end,
For in a short time the race itself
Will also vanish—when the stars fall,
And being drawn into the red sun’s flaming source,
This earth shall feed her father and be finished.
Bold minds may face this, striving to extract
Some ghost of worth from its utter misery,
But all is a forgery and a counterfeit,
And anything that leads into nothingness is worthless.
Black frost binds tightly and holds the wasteland of life;
No phantom sun can warm it. Ah, perhaps
There shall be morning on the hills, a light
Bursting proudly from the eternal sun!
No frost is then too black to melt in that light—
No, look! It glistens: that is only hoarfrost rime,
And all the buds and bulbs of blessed spring—