Classic Poem

Hear ye this parable. A man
Did plant a garden. Vine and tree
Alike, in course of time, began
To put forth fair and pleasantly.
The rains of heaven, the persuading sun
Came down alike on each and every one.
Yet some trees wilful grew, and some
Strong vines grew gaily in the sun,
With gaudy leaves, that ever come
To naught. And yet, each flaunting one
Did flourish on triumphantly and glow
Like sunset clouds in all their moving show.

But lo! the harvest found them not.
The soul had perished from them, Mould
And muck and leaf lay there to rot,
And furnish nourishment untold
To patient tree and lowly creeping vine
That grew as grew the Husbandman's design.

Hear then this lesson; hear and heed:
I say that chaff shall perish; say
Man's soul is like unto a seed
To grow unto the Judgment Day.
It grows and grows if he will have it grow;
It perishes if he must have it so.