The faith we need
Too tall our monumental structures, and too swift our rushing pace,
Not so we mount, not so we gain the race.
Too loud the voice of commerce in the land;
Not so unbashed truth speaks, not so we understand.
Too vast our conquests, too large our gains
Not so comes eternal peace, not so the human soul attains.
But the need of the world is a *faith in humanity* that will live anywhere;
In the dark depths of the woods, or out in the sun’s full glistening glare.
A faith that can hear *Humanly* voice, alike in the quiet glen.
Or in the roar of the street, over the noises of mere *Men*
And the need of the world is a creed that is founded on joy,
A creed with turrets of undying hope and unwavering trust, no destructive winds can destroy.
A creed where the ephemeral soul finds eternal rest, whatever this life bestows
And dwells undoubting and unafraid, because it knows, it just knows.
And the need of the world is a love that burns in the heart like flame;
A love for the Giver of Life, in sorrow or joy the same.
A love that blazes a trail to Humanity, through the pitch dark and the chilling cold,
Or keep the pathway that leads to *Human* clean, through powerful glory and neat gold.
For the faith in humanity that can only thrive or grow in blissful solitude,
And droops and dies in the marts of *mere men not human*, where ruled sights and sounds are rude;
That is not a faith at all, but a dream of a human heart.
Our faith in humanity should point as the compass points, whatever be the chart.
Our faith in humanity must find its centre of peace in a babel of deafening noise;
In the changing ways of the world of men it must keep its poise;
And over the sorrowing sounds of earth it must hear The humanity’s call;
And the faith in humanity that cannot do all this, that is not a faith at all.