Classic Poem

You cannot deceive me, you who bring me your songs—
I am not deceived by your rhymes and your formulas,
I am not deceived by your worship of the masters and the traditions:
I see that after all your songs do not sing,
I see that after all your songs are counterfeit songs,
You cannot resurrect your dead soul in the rhythms of a false beauty:
There is death in your songs—it looks at me with staring eyes.

You cannot deceive me, you who are God:
I am not deceived when I see the evil of God,
I am not deceived when I see the cruelty of God,
I am not deceived when I see the hypocrisy of God,
I am not deceived when I see the godlessness of God:
I am not deceived, I follow the compensating trail,
After every journey I arrive beyond God at God's foothold.

You cannot deceive me, you who are the virtuous of the world—
I have tried your virtues by virtue and found they would not answer the cries of the lost.
You cannot deceive me, you who are the vicious of the world—
I see something back of your vice which purifies and persuades me.
Do you think I am led off the inevitable scent by the cry of injustice?
Do you think I wilfully lose myself in the tangle of iniquity?
I dig my fingers in the ground and pull up the roots and I see that they are all sound.

You cannot deceive me, you who may be contrary among men:
I take the nebulous bad deed and fashion it into a good world.
Do you think I do not see the hand that will save back of the hand that will damn?
Do you not think I can feel that life answers death every time?
Yes, life answers death every time—
The flower answers the seed every time,
The roof answers the foundation every time,
The good answers the bad every time,
Success answers failure every time,
Justice answers injustice every time,
Gladness answers sorrow every time.

You cannot deceive me, you who tie yourselves to the ground:
All mounts up and up and up forever—without resistance up and up:
A louder cry of good always answers the loudest cry of evil.
You cannot deceive me, you who prepare the world for sorrow,
You cannot deceive me, you who prepare the world for injustice,
You cannot deceive me, you who prepare the world for dishonor and death,
You cannot deceive me, you who say love will not finally count,
You cannot deceive me, you who prepare for retreat and surrender.
I do not prepare for retreat and surrender—
I prepare the world's joy for your sorrow,
I prepare the world's justice for your injustice,
I prepare the world's honor and life for your dishonor and death,
I prepare the world for love that will finally count in place of the love that will not finally count,
I prepare the world for eternal advance and conquest in place of retreat and surrender:
That is what it means when you are shocked by the noise I make and puzzled by the words I speak,
That is what it means when I say that you cannot deceive me.