The Poetry Corner

The World's All Right

By Robert William Service

Be honest, kindly, simple, true; Seek good in all, scorn but pretence; Whatever sorrow come to you, Believe in Life's Beneficence! The World's all right; serene I sit, And cease to puzzle over it. There's much that's mighty strange, no doubt; But Nature knows what she's about; And in a million years or so We'll know more than to-day we know. Old Evolution's under way - What ho! the World's all right, I say. Could things be other than they are? All's in its place, from mote to star. The thistledown that flits and flies Could drift no hair-breadth otherwise. What is, must be; with rhythmic laws All Nature chimes, Effect and Cause. The sand-grain and the sun obey - What ho! the World's all right, I say. Just try to get the Cosmic touch, The sense that "you" don't matter much. A million stars are in the sky; A million planets plunge and die; A million million men are sped; A million million wait ahead. Each plays his part and has his day - What ho! the World's all right, I say. Just try to get the Chemic view: A million million lives made "you". In lives a million you will be Immortal down Eternity; Immortal on this earth to range, With never death, but ever change. You always were, and will be aye - What ho! the World's all right, I say. Be glad! And do not blindly grope For Truth that lies beyond our scope: A sober plot informeth all Of Life's uproarious carnival. Your day is such a little one, A gnat that lives from sun to sun; Yet gnat and you have parts to play - What ho! the World's all right, I say. And though it's written from the start, Just act your best your little part. Just be as happy as you can, And serve your kind, and die - a man. Just live the good that in you lies, And seek no guerdon of the skies; Just make your Heaven here, to-day - What ho! the World's all right, I say. Remember! in Creation's swing The Race and not the man's the thing. There's battle, murder, sudden death, And pestilence, with poisoned breath. Yet quick forgotten are such woes; On, on the stream of Being flows. Truth, Beauty, Love uphold their sway - What ho! the World's all right, I say. The World's all right; serene I sit, And joy that I am part of it; And put my trust in Nature's plan, And try to aid her all I can; Content to pass, if in my place I've served the uplift of the Race. Truth! Beauty! Love! O Radiant Day - What ho! the World's all right, I say.