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In Tune with the Infinite

Ralph Waldo Trine

POEMS

And good may ever conquer ill,

Health walk where pain has trod,

As a man thinketh, so is he,

Rise, then, and think with God.

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We buy ashes for bread, 23

We buy diluted wine,

Give me the true –

Whose ample leaves and tendrils curled

Among the silver bills of heaven,

Draw everlasting dew.

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Then let your secret thoughts be fair –

They have a vital part, and share

In shaping words and molding fate,

God's system is so intricate.

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For evil poisons, malice shafts

Like boomerangs return,

Inflicting wounds that will not heal25

While rage and anger burn

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There are loyal hearts, there are spirits brave,

There are souls that are pure and true,

Then give to the world the best you have,

And the best will come back to you.

Give love, and love to your heart will flow,

A strength in your utmost need,

Have faith, and a score of hearts will show,

Their faith in your word and deed.

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Comfort one another,

For the way is often dreary,

And the feet are often weary,

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And the heart is very sad.

There is a heavy burden bearing,

When it seems that none are caring,

And we half forget that ever we were glad.

Comfort one another

With the hand-clasp close and tender,

With the sweetness love can render,

And the looks of friendly eyes.

Do not wait with grace unspoken,

While life's daily bread is broken —

Gentle speech is oft like manna from the skies.

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Truth is within ourselves, it takes no rise

From outward things, whate'er you may believe.

There is an inmost center in us all.

Where truth abides in fullness.

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Let there be many windows in your soul,

That all the glory of the universe

May beautify it. Not the narrow pane

Of one poor creed can catch the radiant rays

That shine from countless sources. Tear away

The blinds of superstition, let the light

Pour through fair windows, broad as truth itself

And high as heaven....

Tune your ear

To all the worldless music of the stars

And to the voice of nature, and your heart

Shall turn to truth and goodness as the plant

Turns to the sun. A thousand unseen hands

Reach down to help you to their peace-crowned heights,

And all the forces of the firmament

Shall fortify your strength. Be not afraid

To thrust aside half-truths and grasp the whole.

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From this hour I ordain myself loos'd of limits and imaginary lines,

Going where I list, my own master total and absolute,

Listening to others, considering well what they say,

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Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating,

Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself

of the holds that would hold me.

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I hold it as a changeless law,

From which no soul can sway or swerve,

We have that in us which will draw

Whate'er we need or most deserve.

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Every day is a fresh beginning.

Every morn is the world made new,

You who are weary of sorrow and sinning,

Here is a beautiful hope for you,

A hope for me and a hope for you.

All the past things are past and over,

The tasks are done, and the tears are shed.

Yesterday's errors let yesterday cover.

Yesterday's wounds, which smarted and bled,

Are healed with the healing which night has shed.

Let them go, since we cannot relieve them,

Cannot undo and cannot atone.

God in His mercy receive, forgive them!

Only the new days are our own.

Today is ours, and today alone.

Here are the skies all burnished brightly;

Here is the spent earth all reborn,

Here are the tired limbs springing lightly

To face the sun and to share with the morn

In the chrism of dew and the cool of dawn.

Every day is a fresh beginning,

Listen, my soul, to the glad refrain,

And, spite of old sorrow and older sinning,

And puzzles forecasted, and possible pain,

Take heart with the day and begin again.

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Loving friends! be wise and dry

Straightway every weeping eye;

What you left upon the bier

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Is not worth a single tear,

'Tis a simple sea-shell, one

Out of which the pearl has gone.

The shell was nothing, leave it there.

The pearl—the soul—was all, is here.

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I stay in my haste, I make delays,

For what avails this eager pace,

I stand amid eternal ways,

And what is mine shall know my face.

Asleep, awake, by night or day,

The friends I seek are seeking me.

No wind can drive my bark astray,

Nor change the tide of destiny.

The waters know their own, and draw

The brooks that spring in yonder height.

So flows the good with equal law

Unto the soul of pure delight.

The stars come nightly to the sky.

The tidal wave unto the sea,

Nor time, nor space, nor deep, nor high,

Can keep my own away from me.

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There is no thing we cannot overcome.

Say not thy evil instinct is inherited,

Or that some trait inborn makes thy whole life forlorn,

And calls down punishment that is not merited.

Back of thy parents and grandparents lies

The great Eternal Will: That too is thine Inheritance

-strong, beautiful, divine

,Sure lever of success for one who tries.

There is no noble height thou canst not climb,

All triumphs may be thine in Time's futurity,

If, whatso'er thy fault, thou dost not faint or halt,

But lean upon the staff of God's security.

Earth has no claim the soul cannot contest,

Know thyself part of the Eternal Source,

Naught can stand before thy spirit's force.

The soul's Divine Inheritance is best.

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O God! I am one forever

With Thee by the glory of birth.

The celestial powers proclaim it

To the utmost bounds of the earth.

I think of this birthright immortal,

And my being expands like a rose,

As an odorous cloud of incense

Around and above me flows.

A glorious song of rejoicing

In an innermost spirit I hear,

And it sounds like heavenly voices,

In a chorus divine and clear.

And I feel a power uprising,

Like the power of an embryo god.

With a glorious wall it surrounds me,

And lifts me up from the sod.

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Oh! I stand in the Great Forever,

All things to me are divine,

I eat of the heavenly manna,

I drink of the heavenly wine.

In the gleam of the shining rainbow

The Fathers Love I behold,

As I gaze on its radiant blending

Of crimson and blue and gold.

In all the bright birds that are singing,

In all the fair flowers that bloom,

Whose welcome aromas are bringing

Their blessings of sweet perfume.

In the glorious tint of the morning,

In the gorgeous sheen of the night,

Oh! my soul is lost in rapture,

My senses are lost in sight.

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