Complete Collection

by James Allen

Liberty The unwise say, " Our sufferings are unjust, Our pains and woes rise from the scattered dust Of sinful ancestors ; we are not free ; Our fathers robbed us of our liberty By what they did ; and we are weak and frail Because they erred; they fell, and we must fail. " Our drunkenness comes from their love of wine ; Our lusts their revels made ; and we divine Our manifold diseases by the ways In which they walked; and as they trod the maze Made by their feet, so we must likewise tread, For we are bound and driven by the dead." Thy sins are thine, O man ! and from thy deeds Thy life, with all its weal and woe, proceeds ; By self, and not by others, thou art bound ; In thine own will and heart the root is found Of all thy lack of peace; ope thou thine eyes, Leave the dead past, and look within ; be wise. Make pure thy heart, and thou wilt make thy life Rich, sweet, and beautiful, unmarred by strife ; Guard well thy mind, and, noble, strong, and free, Nothing shall harm, disturb or conquer thee ; For all thy foes are in thy heart and mind ; There also thy salvation thou wilt find. Mind is the Master-power that moulds and makes. And Man is Mind and evermore he takes The Tool of Thought, and, shaping what he wills, Brings forth a thousand joys, a thousand ills :— He thinks in secret, and it comes to pass ; Environment is but his looking-glass. In his own heart he fosters dark desires, Or strives for good, or loftily aspires ; In his own life he reaps what he has sown, Or pa...