THE COMPACT
“Body, pray thee, let me go!It is the soul that struggles so.”
Danske Dandridge.
O Life, let us make compact here, as men who set a bond between them;We have been comrades, journeying all roads together, near and far,And rough and smooth; all the winds that blow hail us as brothers,And the stars of every land speak us in common tongue as kin:Right gladly have we dared all chance and found it good—if won or lost;But there must come a day when thou and I loose hands, divide the pack,And fare us each alone on widening trails that nevermore shall meet.Friend, when we know that hour face to face; in hall or tent, on road or waste or plain;Or, as I pray, where some great, silent peak fronts solemn, fearless, to eternity;Say thou “Godspeed!” and lift the stirrup cup right gaily to the lips that cry “Farewell!”Grip thou my hand, as one who sees his long-tried friend go forthOn some great quest he would, but may not, share—where danger jostles honor on the road.When that stern call no mortal may gainsay rings in my ears,Do thou make generous haste; nor grudge my going, nor cling doggedlyTill flesh and soul are riven with mighty pain, or worn with slow decay;But as thou love me, as I have been true to thee and to thy service,Give me swift release, and lift our love up as a lifted torch to light my going.I have no quarrel that we two must part; nor fear of that still, wondrous mysteryBeyond the parting: but spare thou my human weakness; I would go out undismayed;Unshrinking; shadowed with no vain regret for done or undone;—As we could we wrought; let who comes after better us in deed, but not in will:Now Hope, and Courage, and my comrade Life, shoulder to shoulder for the final stand!Till from beyond those farthest heights of all my cheer rings down to meet your parting cheer,As some path seeker on untrodden peaks shouts backward to his fellows and goes on.