<h2><SPAN name="poem42"></SPAN>THY SHIP</h2>
<p class="poetry">Hadst thou a ship, in whose vast hold lay
stored<br/>
The priceless riches of all climes and lands,<br/>
Say, wouldst thou let it float upon the seas<br/>
Unpiloted, of fickle winds the sport,<br/>
And of wild waves and hidden rocks the prey?</p>
<p class="poetry">Thine is that ship; and in its depths
concealed<br/>
Lies all the wealth of this vast universe—<br/>
Yea, lies some part of God’s omnipotence,<br/>
The legacy divine of every soul.<br/>
Thy will, O man, thy will is that great ship,<br/>
And yet behold it drifting here and there—<br/>
One moment lying motionless in port,<br/>
Then on high seas by sudden impulse flung,<br/>
Then drying on the sands, and yet again<br/>
Sent forth on idle quests to no-man’s land<br/>
To carry nothing and to nothing bring;<br/>
Till, worn and fretted by the aimless strife<br/>
And buffeted by vacillating winds,<br/>
It founders on a rock, or springs a leak,<br/>
With all its unused treasures in the hold.</p>
<p class="poetry">Go save thy ship, thou sluggard; take the
wheel<br/>
And steer to knowledge, glory, and success.<br/>
Great mariners have made the pathway plain<br/>
For thee to follow; hold thou to the course<br/>
Of Concentration Channel, and all things<br/>
Shall come in answer to thy swerveless wish<br/>
As comes the needle to the magnet’s call,<br/>
Or sunlight to the prisoned blade of grass<br/>
That yearns all winter for the kiss of spring.</p>
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