The World's All Right

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.

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