| |
| WHAT shall it profit a man | |
| To gain the world—if he can— | |
| And lose his soul, as they say | |
| In their uninstructed way? | |
| |
| The whole of the world in gain; | 5 |
| The whole of your soul! Too vain | |
| You judge yourself in the cost. | |
| ’Tis you—not your soul—is lost. | |
| |
| Your soul! If you only knew— | |
| You would reach to the Heaven’s blue, | 10 |
| To the heartmost centre sink, | |
| Ere you severed the silver link, | |
| |
| To be lost in your petty lust | |
| And scattered in cosmic dust. | |
| For your soul is a Shining Star | 15 |
| Where the Throne and the Angels are. | |
| |
| And after a thousand years, | |
| With the salve of his bottled tears, | |
| Your soul shall gather again | |
| From the dust of a world of pain | 20 |
| |
| The frame of a slave set free— | |
| The man that you ought to be, | |
| The man you may be to-night | |
| If you turn to the Valley of Light. | |
| |
