Learn

Learn, learn, learn,--
Our beautiful world is not a field for sheep;
Not just a place wherein to laugh and weep,
To eat and drink, to dance and sigh and sleep.
And then to moulder into senseless dust.

Learn, learn, learn,--
Look up and learn--you cannot look too high!
Not for the earthly wealth which brains can buy,
Not for the sake of gold and luxury--
Treasures corrupted by the moth and rust.

Learn, learn, learn,--
As one in whom the Lord has breathed His breath,
And aye redeemèd from the power of death--
Not as the dumb brute-beast that perisheth,
Not as a soulless, thoughtless, thankless clod.

Learn, learn, learn,--
With love and awe and patience--not in haste;
Drink deeply,--do not pass by with a taste;
O make your land a garden, not a waste!--
Your mind bright, to reflect the face of God.

Learn, learn, learn,--
The mystic beauty and the truth of life;
Search out the treasures whereof earth is rife.
Search on all sides, with pain and prayer and strife;
Search even into darkness. Do not fear.

Learn, learn, learn,--
With a true, steadfast heart, lay up your hoard;
God will sort out the treasures you have stored,
And set them in His bright light, afterward.
He will make all your difficulties clear.
Learn, learn, learn,--
Death is no breaking at a certain place;
We only pause there for a little space.
And then--you would not shame Him to His face?--
You, in His Image and own Likeness made!

Learn, learn, learn,--
Walk with wide-open eyes and reverent heart.
Worship as God the beautiful in art.
Though you see now but dimly, and in part,
All shall be clear in time. Be not afraid.