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diff --git a/old/63281.txt b/old/63281.txt deleted file mode 100644 index b29d5ff..0000000 --- a/old/63281.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3478 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): Collects, by -Horace L. Traubel - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and most -other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of -the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you'll have -to check the laws of the country where you are located before using this ebook. - -Title: The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): Collects - -Author: Horace L. Traubel - -Editor: Alfred Kreymborg - Man Ray - -Release Date: September 24, 2020 [EBook #63281] - -Language: English - -Character set encoding: ASCII - -*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GLEBE 1914/04, VOL 2, NO 1: COLLECTS *** - - - - -Produced by Jens Sadowski and the Online Distributed -Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net. This book was -produced from images made available by the Blue Mountain -Project, Princeton University. - - - - - - - THE - GLEBE - - VOLUME 2 - NUMBER 1 - - APRIL - 1914 - - SUBSCRIPTION - Three Dollars Yearly - THIS ISSUE 50 CENTS - - COLLECTS - - By Horace Traubel - - -The only editorial policy of THE GLEBE is that embodied in its -declaration of absolute freedom of expression, which makes for a range -broad enough to include every temperament from the most radical to the -most conservative, the only requisite being that the work should have -unmistakable merit. Each issue will be devoted exclusively to one -individual thereby giving him an opportunity to present his work in -sufficient bulk to make it possible for the reader to obtain a much more -comprehensive grasp of his personality than is afforded him in the -restricted spaces allotted by the other magazines. Published monthly, -THE GLEBE will issue twelve books per year, chosen on their merits -alone, since the subscription list does away with the need of catering -to the popular demand that confronts every publisher. Thus, THE GLEBE -can promise the best work of American and foreign authors, known and -unknown. - -The price of each issue of THE GLEBE will be fifty cents and the yearly -subscription three dollars. - - Editor - ALFRED KREYMBORG - - Published by - ALBERT AND CHARLES BONI - 96 FIFTH AVENUE - New York City - - - COLLECTS - - - BOOKS BY HORACE TRAUBEL - - CHANTS COMMUNAL - OPTIMOS - COLLECTS - WITH WALT WHITMAN IN CAMDEN - - - - - COLLECTS - - - HORACE TRAUBEL - - - NEW YORK - ALBERT AND CHARLES BONI - 96 FIFTH AVENUE - 1914 - - - Copyright, 1914 - By - Albert and Charles Boni - - - - - CONTENTS - - - I'm So Glad I Was Born 7 - Pankhurst 18 - What Is the Color of Your Skin? 28 - You Writers Who Are Trying to Write 36 - All the Engineers Perished 49 - What Are You Doing for the Cause? 60 - I Claim Everything for the People 70 - To Leave No Door Unopened 79 - Have You Sold Your Soul for Dirt? 90 - When I Look Into the Faces 101 - Loving is the Only Life 111 - Keep Your Face to the Sun 121 - - - - - I never found any use for birth or birthdays, dear comrades, till - I knew what it was to love: - - I could not tell how successful my life is by the number of those - who love me: I could only tell that by the number of those I - love: - - I am victorious only when I have won my love of you from myself: - winning your love of me from you is not enough: - - And so this day though you may not gather me to you I gather you - to me, body and spirit: - - And so this day I count myself up, not in figures but in love, - and say forgiving and jubilant things to my soul about us all. - - - - - I'M SO GLAD I WAS BORN - - -I'm so glad I was born. It seemed so right for me to come. And some day -it will seem just right for me to go. Maybe not just yet but sometime. I -dont know whether it matters much which side of mystery God feeds me on. -I am fed. Here or there, nowhere or anywhere, I am joyous, a part of -things, not to be skipped--an atom but for which the stars would not -hold together. That's enough for any sane man to know about himself. Yet -that's not all I know about myself. I know God made no mistake making -me. Or making you, either. Saint or scoundrel, making anybody. I can see -other things put aside for my entrance. The Lord said: Give him a show. -So I was piloted to this earth-star. Nobody specially welcomed me. My -father and mother were there. And a few others. Some may have been -sorry. But luckily I was there and in my baby way welcomed myself. I did -not rock in that first cradle and say nothing. Think of the journeys I -had lived through and sung through before I got here. Think of gods and -men and animals and suns and all sorts of soul stuffs and body stuffs -that compounded to produce me. Is it any wonder I am stuck on myself -after that? I would not be paying great tribute to what went before or -to what is to come after if I did not stand here now in great pride and -declare the wonder of my flesh and the wonder of my spirit. I tell you -gods are all right. Yes, and the law of gravitation is all right. Yes, -and Beethoven and Socrates and Lincoln were all right. But how about me? -Am I not just as much all right? Suppose an impossibility. Suppose I had -not been born. Suppose something had sidetracked me. What would have -happened to eternity? I dont see how Jesus could have been passed by. -Nor do I see how I can be passed by. God had to do it. When the time -came for me God had no alternative. You might as well put off to-morrow -as put off a man when his day has come. So I got my size and shape. I am -as big as anything because nothing big or little could get along without -me. I am as beautiful as anything because nothing beautiful could be -beautiful without me. Do you call yourself a worm? That's all right if -you mean to honor the worm. But if you mean to abase yourself then you -are unjust to the worm. I never ask myself: Do you know how little you -are? I am always nudging myself in the ribs and asking: Do you realize -how big you are? Nor how bad I am. No. But how good I am. Nor how -possible it is for me to fail. No. But how impossible it is for me not -to succeed. So you see how it is I am glad I was born. You may see how -far back my reasons go. You may see how far ahead my reasons go. I have -trailed no sable clouds of regret across my past. I drag no obstructing -burden of doubt up to the door of the future. I keep all ways open to -all life. I have received an inheritance. It crowds me to repletion with -riches. It builds on after all traditional builders are done. It is -fiery with extra-mortal inspirations. Which all comes with being glad I -was born. I hear people speak of being born right. Was anybody ever born -wrong? I was born incomplete but I was born right. The complete invites -the incomplete. I was not put here finished. I was put here on the way. -I would be sorry if I thought I was born finished. A man born finished, -his task is done. He could retire. That would be the mistake. But the -cosmos never errs. The cosmos is process. It is not end. So I'm glad I -was born. Glad for the grief. Glad for the joy. Satisfied to struggle. -To fall in hell and pick myself up in heaven. Satisfied with the devil -in me and the god in me working off their equal debts. I'm glad I was -born. I might go on using words forever saying that. Yet my account -would only then begin to be paid. I'm so glad I was born. - -I'm so glad I was born. And you are one of my reasons for being glad. -You were born, too. And I hope you are as glad about me as I am glad -about you. I hope you are glad you were born. They say this is a vale of -tears. So it is. It is also a vale of laughter. And laughter and tears -give life a single purpose. And laughter in tears is glorious. Do you -think I try to hide sorrow from myself? It sweetens the sap of the tree. -I take sorrow for the uses of joy. I dont let sorrow get away with the -field. I dont let the bad increase and crowd out salvation. I'm so glad -I was born. There's so much work to do. And I'm glad I was born just -this time. If I had been given a choice of all ages I would have chosen -just this age. Not old Greece with all its art or old Rome with all its -conquests or France in eighty-nine or America in seventy-six or -sixty-one. No age of Pericles for me. No Weimar. No Granada. No -Elizabethan era. No age of privileged exceptions. Give me the Bowery and -nineteen hundred six. Give me the democratic rule. God anticipated my -whim and said: Humor him--it wont hurt. So I came along as well -prophesied as anybody. And I know it wont hurt. It will help. Do you -suppose I mean nothing? Then if I mean nothing God means nothing and the -stars mean nothing and the love in your heart means nothing. I am not in -doubt about my power and my style. The earth wont be just the same after -I am done. It will be different and better. I am appointed to make it -better. So are you. Do you not see that plainly indicated everywhere: So -are you? I will not bray a path into history. Nor fill ostentatious -offices. Nor be recognized as the supreme master this or that of a -profession. But the universe cant spare me. I, too, must mount the -cross. The universe needs my mediation. I know I was not produced for -nothing. It cost a heap to produce me. I must catch up with an immense -ancestral obligation. I must make good for my cosmic bed and board. I -have got to prove that the first atom in faraway time knew what it was -about when it attracted and repulsed and dreamed towards me. I've got to -justify all of my ancestors and I've got to lay my plans so my -descendants will justify me. I must pass everything on with something -added to it. Music with more music. Painting with more painting. Good -books with more good books. All the noble work of man with more noble -work of men added. No way turning the tide back. With happiness enough -in me to last all the misery out. With light enough in me to last all -the misery out. With light enough in me to last all the darkness out. -With strength enough in me to last all the weakness out. Sad, too, for -those in grief. But gladder, too, for those who are reprieved. Certain -that whatever may come no eclipsing harm can come. Certain that no -raindrop in the universe can lose its way. Certain that we are jealously -cared for though we do not always see the hand that cares and though -that hand is sometimes cruel. When I see how much there is in my life to -be glad for I forget that there is anything in my life to be sorry for. -I have no quarrel with the barbarous minute the hour is so gentle. With -the contrary day the yielding year is so conciliatory. With distorted -ages the symmetry of time is so perfect. I do not feel like a waif lost -somehow in chaos. I am at home in the midst of order. It seems worth -while to live in a universe that is making, that has not made, its -title. The universe did not do all its work the first day. It said to -itself: I'll always leave something over for the workers to do. It said -to itself: Traubel will come some day: leave something over for Traubel. -It said to itself: Or anybody, everybody, millions of bodies, will come -some day: leave something over for them all. The cosmos is left at loose -ends here and there. That was just meant for you. Go to work on it. Dont -fret and growl. Dont sit down and cry and tell yourself that it's a -rather shameful cosmos anyway and might have been immaculate if it had -chosen to. No. Be a cosmos yourself. Be a god or a first assistant or a -fourth remove man or somebody and put in a bit of perfection over your -own name. Get into the nebulous push somewhere. Drag, shove, pull, lift: -do something to add to the active substance of deity. I'm mighty glad so -much was left over. I dont want to send in to the celestial court any -excuse for default. The lords god may say: We need not worry: our -brother is there. The lords god know what they are about. They know -their brother can be relied on. They may sleep without bad dreams. Does -it ever occur to you to give the overworked gods a rest and get busy -yourself? The heart's good will should come out of the heart with -gladness on its lips. The song should be glad it got done. It should -lift its tones in praise. I am glad I got done. I lift my tones in -praise. Creation belongs to gladness. Can anything that is sorry it was -born give birth to life that will be glad it is alive? Laughter is the -headline and footnote and signature of creation. When the dream to be a -man became a man cosmos laughed. It was happy. It had done a creditable -job. When a man somewhere lived love's equal and final life with a woman -somewhere and a child somewhere flamed from the mutual fire, the sun -laughed in kinder beams of light and the starshine smiled over the -cradled hope. I go everywhere saying I am glad I was born. It is such an -innocent thing to say. It seems so like a child to say it. Yet I never -heard you say it. I am waiting to hear you say it. I want to hear you -say it once. Then I want to hear you say it always. Get in the habit of -saying it. So possessed you cant help saying it. No matter who or what -says no saying yes yourself. Saying it to yourself when you are alone, -saying it to us, saying it in silences, saying it out loud. No: I never -heard you say it. I have heard you read the riot act on creation. I have -heard you growl like a bear and squeak like a rat. I have heard you tell -how bad life is. Not how good life is: no: how bad. How bad a toothache -is. Not how good a sound tooth is: no: how bad. There are bleak winds -and consuming fires. I have been frostbitten and burned. Why should you -make so much the most of misery and so much the least of health? Why -should you enter all the charges and none of the credits? Why should you -not put in a figure or two on the other side and admit the balance of -benefit? What's the use always going down stream? Why not also go up -with the flood? I am possessed with gladness. I can see that all the -worlds groan and travail in laughter. I can see that the shadow laughs -in the sun. I can see that the wrongs laugh in the right. I can see the -greeds that destroy laugh in the generosities that save. I can see all -that is crooked in the social order laughing itself into all that will -be straight in the social order. Over all I prevail: I, too, god by -heritage, recreating the forever recreated stars. I, too, adding more -gladness to the multiplied gladness of time. I, too, pouring out of my -limitless stores limitless streams of rejoicing. I, too, an equal maker -and sustainer of undoubted life. I, too, smiling back order into any -chaos. I, too, always merry and rejuvenescent. I who am so glad I was -born. - -I'm so glad I was born. I like to tell about that. I like to say it to -people who want to hear and to people who do not want to hear. I like to -tell it to the man who is about to give up. I notice that he begins -again. I like to tell it to the musician who thinks his inspiration is -all gone. I notice that now he writes the finest songs ever. I like to -tell it to the lover who is not loved. I notice that he is afterwards -satisfied to love, not crazy to be loved. I like to tell it to the man -who is robbed and to the man who robs. I notice that both hear me right -for both see that it is better to be robbed than to rob. I like to tell -it to the sick. The sick take hope. The sick, too, say: We are glad we -were born. Glad to be born even if born to sickness. (Though no one is -born to sickness.) And gladness is forever the footway of dreams. I can -go to the injustices of the world with my joy. I am not afraid that the -injustices can refute my joy. For injustice never can refute justice. My -jubilant rhapsodies will prevail. They will go where nothing else will -go. They will go where arguments will not go and figures will not go. -They will go where logic will not go and law will not go. They will go -where the pride of faith will not go and the humility of faith will not -go. They will go where the sun will not go and the rains will not go. I -say I'm glad I was born. I am good seed for any ground. No soil could be -so bad my seed is not good for it. I am good will for any life. No life -could be so poor my seed is not rich for it. I am the victorious day -that comes after every other day has come and failed. I am the courage -that comes after every other resolution has come and failed. I am -everything true that comes after everything false has come and failed. I -am the conquering work of your brains and your hands that comes after -all other work has come and failed. I'm so glad I was born. Glad for the -universe. What luck it was to the universe the day I was born. I feel -that the universe was full paid all old credits that day. I came. I do -not hesitate to tell anybody how magnificent I am. I do not try to -divert attention from myself by calling attention to the earth that is -so many miles through and the sun that is so many degrees hot. I let the -devastators do that. I see how much more than their less I amount to. -Earths and suns are only a meager per cent. to the plenty of my -exaltation. You cant take earths and suns to your heart. But you can -take me to your heart. You cant take your degrees and decorations to -your heart. They always fall short of solace and must fall short. But -you can take me to your heart. I never fall short. You cant take your -position in society to your heart. You cant take your overcapitalized -name to your heart. You cant take your riches to your heart. Oh, you -cant take your riches, all your thousands, all your houses, all your -swell possessions, to your heart: and they cost you much. But you can -take me to your heart, you can take my eyes that see and ears that hear -to your heart, you can take my announcements of immortal life to your -heart: they never default, never fall short: and they cost you nothing. -I guess I have said all I can say about that. I have got so far in my -raptures now I have got beyond words. You must get the rest without -words. I'm so glad I was born. - - - - - And so I have come to sing life: I have come to bring that which - is hidden to the surface: - - And so I have been set apart to deal honestly with man and woman - and sex and suffer for it: - - And so I have been chosen from all the rest as the one who can - say what the rest think and desire and dare not justify: - - And so I declare for them: for the discredited dreams: for the - obscured purposes: declare for them and invite those who are - angry to take it out of me: - - And so I stand about where the most people are and issue my - challenge and wait for the result: - - Feeling back of me holding me up the brave beautiful average men - and women my comrades who look to me to serve them: - - Coming into the big world with my little challenge: receiving my - cues from what is suppressed in others: - - Casting my uncompromising nos into the faces of the rulers of the - earth: defying their fences and their written compacts. - - - - - PANKHURST - - -Pankhurst. The world has been saying that word under its breath and over -its breath. You have been saying it. The papers have been saying it. It -has been on the lips of professors and agitators. It has been made fun -of and been shuddered over. Maybe you have thought it was the name of a -woman. So it was. But it was more than that. It was the name of a -revolution. As the name of a woman it would mean nothing in particular. -As the name of a revolution it becomes prophecy and history. That's why -the people who put the woman in jail found that they couldn't put the -revolution in jail. And if you cant forcibly feed a woman how much less -likely you are to forcibly feed a revolution. That single word of two -syllables. It cuts into prejudice like the blade of a knife. A woman's -name. Say it over to yourself. At first it may sound commonplace. But -keep on. Say it over and over. It will become marching armies. It will -become martial music. It will trumpet you to vast victories. Women don't -need to say woman now. They only need to say Pankhurst. You tell me I am -talking of an arrogant woman only a few feet high who is bent upon -destruction. Yes: I am talking of her. She is the gateway through which -I pass. But I am also talking of the revolution which is so high no -vision can reach its summit. Pankhurst is a dream come true. Pankhurst -is an ideal in action. This law. She's inveterate. She asserts, she -summons, she demands. Yet she's calm. She: the mother incarnate. She's -the maternal made revolution. She's sex. Women don't all recognize her. -They are dubious. But she proceeds and says nothing. She asks no favors -and gives none. She dont apologize. She asks nobody's forgiveness. She -makes no palsying explanations. She goes on and on. Just as gravitation -goes on and on. Just as time goes on and on. My eyes never stop with the -woman. I pass to that by which she is fortified. Listen to what she -says. Do you belittle her message? Return: listen again: weigh her grave -confessions. Every word she says is the word of revolution. Dont you -think you've been warned enough? Get your impudent property out of the -way. That infernal property. It interrupts the vision. But for it we'd -go straight to our end. Pankhurst. I heard her speak the other night. It -was in a hall. Thousands of people were there. She was on the big stage -in the half dark. She spoke to us. The great building disappeared. The -woman who spoke and those who were spoken to disappeared. I was left -alone with an idea. The pure, the undefiled, idea. Revolution. Are you -afraid now? Is the mother in you afraid--or the father? Or is the child -in you afraid? Do you shrink back with horror from this issue? You dare -to acknowledge mothers. But are you afraid of the maternal? You dare to -say woman. But are you afraid to say revolution? Woman is offering no -petition. She is not saying her prayers. She is not humbly beseeching -anybody for anything. Woman is vehemently afoot full armed marching -victoriously across the earth exacting tribute making light of the -phantom obstacles that formerly drove her back into the lambpit. If I -say Pankhurst I say all of you not one of you. The great auditorium -disappeared. I was alone somewhere with an idea. Her phrases are the -least of her. Revolution is the most of her. What she was there before -my eyes making a speech was as nothing compared with what she became to -me in the unseen and the silences. I am awed. The revolution becomes -flesh. The revolution becomes woman. She sailed across the ocean in a -ship. She put her name on the ship's register. Revolution came in -another name. And the registry registered it in another name. Then they -didn't want her to land. Some of them. They didn't know her by her real -name but even as it was they felt that her ominous entrance promised no -good. Revolution waited for revolution. Woman waited for woman. Have you -gone about all these years supposing woman wouldn't finally strike her -blow? She waited till it was time. The woman's day is here. The man's -day, too: for man can have no day without woman nor woman without man. -Many of you still tremble. You'd rather she hadn't come. But it had to -happen. The revolution was due. You harbored it under disguise. She set -it out in the open. You didn't want to acknowledge how big round it was. -She refused to hide the fact from itself. You were the disciples of -revolt. Or the partners. Or the revolutionary faithfuls. But she was -more. She was revolution incarnate. She was the godmade woman sent to -earth to proclaim the future. There you have it. Not a mere woman. -Though a mere woman is no more to be made light of than a mere man or a -mere cosmos. Yet not a mere woman. That, surely: then infinitely more -than that. Revolution. Pankhurst. - -Pankhurst. The shadow on the horizon. The black darkness gathering -overhead and around. The threatening forefinger of fate. The menace of -maternity. The uprising of a sex. The comrade woman challenges the wife -woman. It must be resented. We must throw back the waves of the sea. -Here is another revolt against property. These people too put people -first. How monstrous. To put a woman or a man first. To put a mother -first. We must teach mothers their place. And people too: we must teach -them their place. The death of a man or a woman: what is that? But -burning down a house: that is an attack on civilization. These new women -want everything. They treat husbands as if they were no more than men. -They treat property as if it was dirt under their feet. They say nothing -matters but hearts and love. Well: hearts and love are not bad if you -keep them where hearts and love belong. But if you bring hearts and love -into politics or economics then you are invading a forbidden sphere. -We've got to set back the clock. Time's going too fast. A man said: I -dont like it. I asked him: Dont like what? He said: This woman business. -I asked: What woman business? He said: Woman in politics. I asked: Dont -you think they're capable of politics? He exclaimed: My God, yes: too -capable! I asked: Then why do you kick? He said: Because if they go into -politics they'll make this a woman's world and I dont want to live in a -woman's world. That's it. When the woman becomes real they dont want to -live in a woman's world. Just as profit-believing people don't want to -live in a man's world when a real man appears. If this is not a mother's -world whose world is it? The man said: I dont want to live in a woman's -world. Just as profit-believing people dont want from their own side: We -don't want to live in a man's world. Yet if this is not a father's world -whose world is it? You dont want the world the women will make it -possible for real fathers to live in. You don't want the world the men -will make it possible for real mothers to live in. You say: Half a -world's a good enough world for me. You say: A whole world's too big for -me. Then you hear the reply. Then you see the reply. Words reply. Mobs -reply. Conflagration replies. Quarrels, battles, reply. This still water -of man's peace has been ruffled by woman's tempest. Things were going on -so good. Then these sexless rebels had to come. Just as money says to -people in the economic sphere: Things were so serene: then you had to -come. Yes, something always has to come. Every time orthodoxy settles -itself for a long tenure something has to come. Just as clear days are -getting used to themselves stormy days come. We had things arranged just -about right. It wasn't ideal. We acknowledge imperfections. But on the -whole it was about right. Woman was just about where she ought to be. -Labor too was just about where it ought to be. Then something happened. -Something always does happen. Labor got to growling. And now woman's got -to growling. Woman. Haven't we given woman the choicest tidbits of life? -And yet she says no. She says that would be all right if something else -was first all right. That something else is her freedom. Is her claim to -herself. She says that comes first. Why: that's just what labor is -saying. We've got to fight labor. We've got to fight her. It's in fact -one quarrel with two wings. And we'll crush them with one answer. We've -got to or this world'll go to pot straightaway. If it's got so that a -man's got a right to be a man through a woman's right to be a woman. If -it's got so that a woman's got a right to be a woman through a man's -right to be a man. If that's so then I want to know the reason why. This -whole liberty stuff is nonsense. Don't you see how it is? My God! If -this keeps up the first thing you know this'll be a liberty world. Look -at it honest. Dont you see it yourself? Reason it out in your own mind. -Every other consideration will be set aside. Democracy will run homes, -business, states, everything. Horrible. This will be a liberty world. -And I dont want to live in a liberty world. Pankhurst. - -Pankhurst. When I hear you say that word I can tell what you think of -yourself. I dont have to ask you for other evidences. Whether you lift -your voice or drop it. That tells the whole story. Whether there is any -mother in your voice. Whether there is any love in it. You're not -dealing here with a person. You're dealing with a race. The person comes -and goes. But the new day; it comes and never goes. Now and then the -world names a new star. All the glasses are lifted towards the revealed -luminary. There's the clamor of those who see it and those who half see -it and those who dont see it at all. You cant know Pankhurst by reading -the personals in the newspapers. You cant get acquainted with her by -taking the stories of her life for what they literally say. She brings -all that woman can bring. Then she brings what was before and what is -after. If you have the great person theory you'll not understand why she -is here and what she has accomplished. But if you have the great race -theory the clouds'll wash out of the skies and you'll see the sun. We -have long said: Man shall hold no property in man. The women come along -now and say: Man shall hold no property in woman. Then I go farther. I -go to the end. I say: Man shall hold no property in property. What are -you listening for? It's a great voice. Women are not primarily voters. -They are women. They are sex. They are mothers. The maternal is speaking -up for itself. Votes for women. That's the mere surface of the stream. -Souls for women. Bodies for women. That's the far cry. Every woman has a -father in her. Every man has a mother in him. That which has been -confined. That shall be released. That which has been refused woman. -That she demands. That which woman has refused herself. That she will -resume. A great flame lit in a vast shadow. That's what it all is. This -little woman overflowing with calm vehemence: what is she? Just the -mother of two daughters? Just the wife of a dead husband? Just a -prisoner in British jails? That's the average of her. But that's not the -most of her. She reaches out over the earth. She ceases to be a person. -She becomes a presence. She who can be measured becomes the -immeasurable. My eyes sweep her inspiring horizons. I follow her lead. -Let her go where her feet and her wings take her. Down anywhere, up -anywhere. Resisted no matter how, welcomed no matter where. Every mile -she travels is sacred to a common trust. Dedicated to a universal -purpose. Are you skulking? Do you worry the years away with quibbles? -Rather that every atom of property should go up in smoke if the people -are left. Rather anything than that the soul should pay the bills of -property. When men are victims you say: We are saved. When dollars are -victims you say: We are ruined. You can brush aside a man or a woman. -But you cant alter the will of the fates. You can turn your back to the -sunshine. But you cant stand in the way of the sun. You can take the -splash of the sea. But you cant stop it from rolling up the shore. You -can lock yourself in your house. But you close the rest of us out. When -the man comes what has the woman got to say? When the woman comes what -has the man got to say? The answer of the man is found in the woman. The -answer of the woman is found in the man. The woman has the floor. She -asks her pertinent impertinent questions. She asks whys and wherefores. -You exhibit your tax receipts in reply. She asks you what you are. You -answer by showing her what you have. You think you shine through what -you own. Far from that. You can only shine through what you dont own. -This little woman has made all your big fortunes look mean. This little -idea has made all your big theories look cheap. Everything else always -does look insignificant when a real man or woman comes round. When you -shook hands with this woman you more than touched the palms of life and -death. When you looked into her eyes you read more than the tablets of -Sinai. When you heard her speak words you listened to more than the -music of waters and winds. When you measured her and weighed her you -tested more than the sizes and shapes of starry universes. The woman -comes. Oh man: what has the woman in you got to say of it? The man -comes. Oh woman: what has the man in you got to say of it? Pankhurst. - - - - - I have met men and women and men and women: they are all sizes: - yet they are all one size: - - I have never so far met a man or a woman little enough for me to - be arrogant with: - - I have never so far met a man or a woman big enough for me to - humble myself to: - - Men and women dont seem to me made to be figured upon: they are - made to be immeasurable: - - They dont seem to me made to be accepted or rejected: they are - made to be my comrades: - - We are all so much alike I dont see how we could be different: - - We are all so different I don't see how we could fail to be - alike: - - A few horizons added to a man's dream: do they make one man - better than another? - - A few inches added to a man's waist: do they make one man - superior to another? - - From way up these are such minor matters: the wave drops away in - the sea: - - From way up our castes and borderlines are such minor matters: - they lapse away in the soul: - - For we are in the end not masters and slaves, not up and down: we - are only brothers and sisters. - - - - - WHAT IS THE COLOR OF YOUR SKIN? - - -What is the color of your skin? Are you a child of the sun or a child of -the snow? Do you come with red in your face? Or is there a shadow across -your head? Are you the white child of a black mother or the black child -of a white mother? I see your brown red right hand. How warm it feels to -me. I look into your glowing equatorial eyes. How like being led to -fathers and mothers that is. You bring me north south east west. You -guide yourselves to me. You distribute me among yourselves. I am your -child no matter how. Your child no matter where. There are seas -everywhere. But there is no sea between us. There are interfering miles -of space and hours of time. But they dont break us from each other. I -was born of my mother and here I am. You were born of your mothers and -there you are. The earth was born of the sun. The sun was born of what? -I mix up the elements. I come out one place. You come out another place. -From the same mother womb. From the same father seed. To the same -brother earth. Do you hold a noose over me? Or drop a sword from above -as I pass? Or shoot me down in my tracks? Or pass laws of which I'm the -victim? Or lock your housedoors when I knock? My credentials are the -same as yours: no better than yours. I am the harvest of the same -planting: no more than that harvest. Like you I have one life to live on -one earth before I pass on. Do I stand on my icy heritage and freeze the -heat out of your love? Remember the stream: go up with it to its -sources: go down with it to the sea. Every atom dancing in the light or -clouded by the storm advances and retreats in perfect equity and perfect -order. Dear prouds and humbles: by God I'm yours and you're mine. Do you -believe that anything can take you from me or take me from you? I meet -you. I read about you. I am told all the terrible truths. But everything -draws me nearer. Nothing drives me away. If you could be less to me than -I am to myself then I would have to be more to myself than I could be to -you. That would violate my democracy. That would be setting one thing -above another. When I elevate myself with all I am a democrat. When I -lift myself above the rest I am a tyrant. Listen to me. You who are -reading what I write. Maybe you are black. Maybe you are pink or white -or yellow. Maybe you are between or across. All that goes with maybe. -But when you are my brother there is no maybe to it. If I could look at -any man and not see his mother as my own I'd be false to all motherhood. -If I could look at any woman and not see her father as my own I'd be -false to all fatherhood. I'm not satisfied with one mother. I want all -mothers. Nor with one father. I want all fathers. Nor with my children. -I want all children. I'm not satisfied with one color. I want all -colors. Nor with one race. I want all races. Nor with one language. I -want all languages. My hunger is fiercely universal. I'm not fed till -I've eaten at every table. I can only know one woman by knowing all -women. I can only know one people by knowing all peoples. What is the -color of my skin? What is the sound to the song? What is the water to -the ocean? That's what the rest of me is to my exterior. That's what the -substance in me is to my show. That's what my foundations are to my -rooftree. There at the bottom we are together. And at the top: there we -are together. We begin together and end together. But we are alienated -in the journey. When we start out in the morning we say good by. When we -meet again at night we ask: How do you do? What wrenched us apart in the -struggle of the pilgrimage? Why should those who are friends before and -friends again after be enemies while they travel? I say to the -other-colored peoples: You have to be my brothers whether you want to or -not, thank God. Do they say to me: You have to be my brother whether you -want to or not, thank God? What is the color of your soul? What is the -color of your skin? - -What is the color of your skin? I see. You are a nigger. You are a -damned dago. You are the man on the other side of the wall. The man over -somewhere. The yellow peril. The ignorant dirty emigrant. The two for a -quarter six for a half dollar mill slave. There is a border line between -us. There are incomes between us. There is a whole code of manners -between us. You are the godforsaken polack. You are the hooknosed jew. -You are the monkeyfaced irishman. You are the beerguzzled deutscher. I -call you names. I can't see you. You are in the next yard. The stars -look just as well from the next yard. But I insist upon the exclusive -astronomy of my own garden. I smell your stale clothes. I am choked by -the aromas of your foul kitchens. Would you like your sister to marry an -african? I'm not fussy. I'm only a man. A white man. I don't draw lines -ferninst you. I only draw lines in favor of myself. Do you mean to say -you think these ignoramuses as good as yourself? Do you tell me that -you're no better than the herd? Nonsense. There's the nietzschean word -for it. The average man is the herd. The awkward big-fisted loon. The -idiot crowd. The people everybody kicks. The folks everybody despises. -The men women children you wouldn't invite into your home. I use them. -Ride them. Make money off them. But that's all I want of them. Just the -robber money. Not the man love. Look at them filing to work tired to -start with. Look at them filing back from work like a funeral nearly -dead to end with. They're a rum lot. They're worth a hundred cents on -the dollar and up in the labor market. They're worth about ten cents on -the dollar and under on the social plane. My God! but they're a scabby -bunch. It makes me sick to see them. Look at them as they work their -treadmill. Don't they give themselves away? Right and left, north and -south, look where you choose: they are the slobbering tobaccoey -stay-behinds and passbacks of the dumpheap. Every mother's son of 'em -useful to me maybe but useless to themselves. Down in their luck, to be -sure. But sentenced for life just the same. The jackjohnsons of society. -The refuse of birth and death. The clods. The dullards. The heavyfooted -and heavyheaded bowlegs and knock-knees. The slave asses yoked to an -inescapable burden. Who are you that you dont belong? Are you of us few -or of their very many? Are you of the interest bearing rent collecting -profit class or do you fester in these maggoty bottoms of fate? Stay -where you fall no matter how far down you are. Dont try to climb. We -shove you all over the cliff again. We throw dust in your eyes. We -confuse you in clouds of verbiage. We disarm you. We have laws to make -you afraid. We have creeds to make you hopeless. We have poets who kill -you with pensive despairs. Do you dare aspire to anything? Stay where -you are in your deep mud. There is no above to you. No beyond. No ease. -No dreamworld. You were condemned before you were born. You remain -condemned while you live. And you will continue condemned when you -become the dung in the barnyard at last. A woman heard me expressing my -race faith. She asked me: "How would you like to have a grandchild with -a black skin?" That was it. That was the whole devilish poisonous story. -The entire problem prejudice in a nutshell. She didn't ask: How would -you like to have a grandchild with a black soul? That would have meant -something. But she wasn't interested in souls. She was interested in -skins. How would I like to have a grandchild with a black skin. What is -the color of your skin? - -What is the color of your skin? Maybe you have a black skin and a white -heart. Maybe you have a white skin and a black heart. I dont know. We -talk about the yellow peril when we think of Asia. And we talk about the -brown peril when we think of Italy. And we talk about the black peril -when we think of South Carolina. But all of us are afraid to talk of the -white peril. I see no perils. My arms reach out to all. I want the -Chinaman to possess himself of the earth if he's an earth man. Let him -freely pass right and left testing himself and us. Dont put up pennywise -barriers built on poundfoolish laws. Rather do anything than stop your -fraternities short of the total census of man. Every interfering sea, -every contradicting statute, every counterchecking prejudice, every -adventure in money-making, that nullifies the international inference is -a slap in the face of brotherhood. Damn up the human stream. Then you -damn down the soul. The old negro mammy in Georgia asked me as I left: -Will you do something for me? I said: Yes, if you'll do something for -me? She asked: Will you kiss me good by? I said: Yes--on condition that -you kiss me good by. I would only be worthy to take if I was worthy to -give. I'd say to all the world: I would only be worthy of loving if I -was worthy of being loved. I would only be worthy of being an American -if I was worthy of being a Jap. I would only be worthy of serving if I -was worthy of being served. I would only cease being a peril if I ceased -calling others perilous. How could I be worthy of being a white man if I -was too good to be a black man? Ethiopia cries out loud to Scandinavia. -India cries out loud to England. All the peoples cry out loud from -everywhere to all the peoples. There is no peril in peoples. There is -only peril in you and me. There is no peril in anything that brings any -of us together. There is only peril in what keeps us or drives us apart. -I go with mothers fathers children. I go with birth and death. I go with -dreaming and believing. I go with mixing and mating. These are the same -everywhere. The same with you black and me white. The same with my skin -burnt to fire and the same with your skin frozen to the whiteness of -snow. The same with duskies and palefaces. I dont go with maps. With -geographies. With diplomacies. With kingdoms and republics. With genius -aristocracy pauperism. With success and the main chance. I only go with -people. With folks. And with them I go anywhere they go. Into any hell -or any heaven. Into any hope or any despair. With people. Where people -go I may go too. But where people are refused there I am shut out. The -woman asked me: Would you like to have a grandchild with a black skin? -She brought her question to the wrong court. She should not have -addressed it to me. She should have taken it to God. Would God like to -have a grandchild with a black skin? It's as though we asked God: What -would you think of yourself if you happened to be black or red? What is -the color of your soul? What is the color of your skin? - - - - - O you despairers of destiny! O you plunderers of time! you make a - great noise in the silences: - - All that you need to do is to open your eyes: that is the secret: - look: - - You come to me; I cant look for you: I can only say, look: - - I cant give you a free pass to the promised land: I can only say - look: if you only look you will need no pass: - - O, why do you bury your face in the dust? get up: lift yourself - high enough to look over your own head: - - Everything you love is yours. - - - - - YOU WRITERS - - -You writers who are trying to write. You artists anywhere who are trying -for art. You who may be successful but have not arrived. You who hold -yourselves in a class apart and play the game of temperament. You fools, -liars, ornamenters, hypocrites, prostitutes, of words. You who wouldn't -sell your bodies but who sell your souls. You who have taken to the -street for profit. You who hunger for flattery and thirst for fame. You -betrayers of the people. You who put words on yourselves as chains. You -who are goods to the highest bidder. All of you. I have something to say -to you. You may have said it to yourself. But I'm going to say it -anyhow. Both for your good and mine. Something serious. Something that -goes to the root. I'll talk right out. For somehow you who might be are -not. You to whom a trust is given have betrayed it. I believe in the -sacredness of the word. I want words to be gods, paradises, service. I -want words to live. I want words to be creators. Some writers are so -vital they cant say and or the or but without thrilling you. There are -some writers so dead they cant say immortality without a funeral. I want -the living word. How can I get it? By using words instead of being used -by words. By speaking out of my heart instead of out of books. By not -trying to write. By living. Some authors write as if they never had been -born. They say: I did my best. I say: Rather your worst. When you talk -to me face to face you are worth every minute. When you talk to me on -paper in a book you are a waste of time. What happens to a man in the -period between what he feels and what he does? What catastrophe occurs? -Why does he go to smash in the process? He is so alive in what he -humanly and so dead in what he professionally says. What is the poison -that comes between? Money? Prestige? Or is it some false principle of -art? Do your words, do your colors, do your tones, take you away from -rather than towards your inspiration? You try too hard. You shouldn't -try at all. An artist's sketches are wonderful. His finished canvases -are commonplace. His sketches are impromptu. His paintings are designed. -He did the sketches. The paintings did him. He didn't try in the -sketches. He was all try in the paintings. You writers who are trying to -write. Are you trying to live? I admit your display. I admit your -phrases. But you? Do I admit you? Yes. But not the you you get into your -books. My words belong where my heart is. I am not willing to feel one -thing and write another. Let me be the servant of my emotions. Down -below all my words is all my life. Rooted in the soil. Established in -the unalterable laws. Dedicated to the supreme inferences. If my words -dont say that they lie about me. I am the fact the words are supposed to -report. If they dont express me I go unrepresented. I dont try to be -anything. I just let myself be whatever results. It would be as bad for -me to force myself to be something as for me to force myself not to be -something. There are so many artists and there is so little art. There -are so many writers and there is so little writing. There is so much -painting and there are so few pictures. We are overclothed. Our wardrobe -is rich. We are jeweled. We are placed on thrones. But what are we -anyhow? We are humbug kings. We are fraud citizens. What we are not we -are. What we are we are not. The same thing which makes some men look -for social prestige makes an author look for literary prestige. We give -up the same things for it. We lie and duck and play sycophant for it. We -fool people. We make black white and white black. We trifle away serious -things. And we are serious over trifles. All for what? In order to -appear to be what we are not. We are masqueraders. Words are the tools -of our burglary. Words are the cant of our religion. Words are the -sophistry of our law. Words are the fog we lose our way in. We'd be safe -if it wasn't for words. Words are our peril. Words are the obstacles in -the way. If you want to be understood dont talk. Whatever you have to -say, dont trust it to words. Try not to try. Cut loose. Throw the reins -on their necks. I see many books. And yet there is only one book. I see -the broad highway and the countless journeyers. Where are they all -going? The girl looks at herself in the glass. She wants to be pretty. A -little paint and powder is added here and there. A few words are added -here and there. It's all the same thing. You bribe, steal, seduce. You -make use of words not for the purpose of being true but for the purpose -of being beautiful. Show: that's what you want. Distinction: that's what -you want. To be considered clever. To be a best seller. To go into many -editions. To be invited to lecture in colleges. To be asked to write for -the magazines. To be in demand. That's what you use words for. So as to -be listed in the literary four hundred. So as to be set apart somehow. -You want to be extraordinary. It has got so the writer stands above and -condescends. He don't stand below and look up. He regards the people as -pawns. He'll use them in the game. But he won't concede their equality. -He plans for so much a year. He figures at receptions. The colleges give -him titles. He dont want to be average. He wants to be exceptional. So -he tries to write. He gives his writing little pulls and twists so as to -adjust it to the market. He takes words off here and puts words on there -because he wants his disguise to be complete and impressive. Go look at -the books in libraries. They are the endless roster of the dead. Most -men bury themselves in books. Only occasionally does a man resurrect -himself in a book. He makes his writing the parade. It marches with -brass bands. Everybody knows it's coming. And everybody knows of it -after it's gone. But nothing can make it live. Active as it seems to be -it's still a burial. You who have tried so hard and have not succeeded -may yet learn that he only succeeds who dont try at all. When you -try--that means that you're up against it. When you've got to engineer. -When you've got to watch your ps and qs. When you're afraid you'll not -know how to turn a sudden corner. Then you're no use. Then you're firing -in the air. You're to discover how to win without caring whether you win -or lose. You're to find out that you'll arrive without worrying over the -process. He is surest who dont ask for pledges. Words are a fatality. -You writers who are trying to write. - -You writers who are trying to write. You who'd do anything rather than -be thought of no importance. You who'd murder the language or rape it or -rob it or do anything to it rather than not make your point. You: what -have I to say to you? Just what I have been saying. Go on with your -dance. Get what you can out of the disgraceful scramble. Poke your heads -into the slop trough. Let me paraphrase the man who advised his boy to -get money. Make books. Honestly if you can. But make books. Try for -points. If you cant make them on the square make them on the foul. Try -to write. Dont try to think. Dont try to love. Dont try to serve. Try to -write. Get a reputation. Never mind your character. Do everything you -can to convince everybody that you are what you know you are not. A man -has to make a living. Therefore he has to do what he has to do to get -it. So you have to be notorious. Therefore you have to do what you have -to do to get notoriety. If you have to murder your mother to get success -murder your mother. What's one mother to one success? If you have to -starve children in factories to get success starve children. What are a -few children out of so many? You are the spokesman of life and death. -You can be hired for so much per to aid and abet the orthodoxies. Sell -your soul. What is one soul, even if it's your soul, to one success? -Your words. You can turn them into nugget values. You can set a high -figure on them. And you can hypnotize the purchaser. Not a word without -pay. This is a world and a time of bargain and sale. Make the world pay. -Watch the market. See what it wants. Give it that. Try to conform. Try -to write not your soul's words or your heart's words but trade's words. -Give the verbal stock market all the preferences. Everybody else sells -whatever he can. You have words. Words are your only treasure. Why -shouldn't you sell words? And you will sell the words that are according -to fashion not the words that are according to truth. Just as the -rhyming lilting poets write the words not of faith but of formula. If -the issue is between the rules and the exception the rule has to go. -Write book words. And write pretty words. Even if the ugly word says -more than the pretty word choose the pretty word. Be an artist. Work for -the art result. Whatever you do, dont work for the human result. Keep -your eye on alphabets and words and sentences. Dont let your eye wander -off to life. If you give your spirit any liberties it's liable to play -the bull in the china shop and smash your fine wares into a tragic -litter. You want to know whether I'd seriously advise such treason. I -say yes. Why not? You are an artist. You are not a man. You want me to -price you by art standards. You dont want me to price you by human -standards. The art standard might just as well be crooked as straight. -It might just as well be a whore as a woman. It might just as well -grovel and snuff and wallow as aspire and soar. The crook says: Dont -judge me by the human standards. He wants to be judged by the crook -standards. And from the crook standards why shouldn't a crook be a -crook? The writer says: Dont judge me by the human standards. He wants -to be judged by the writer standards. And from the writer standard why -shouldn't a writer be a writer? Artist or crook. Crook or artist. It's -the same. People think it wrong to steal money. But they dont think it -wrong to steal words. The only word that belongs to the writer is the -word that belongs where it's put. If it dont belong there then it's -stolen. It's far worse to play false with words than to play false with -money. Money? The next dollar may purify the money account. Words? Words -may be prostituted forever. But dont let that discourage you. Make good -even if you have to make bad. I cant see any other way out for you. Let -the worst in you do its best for you. Dont be too squeamish. Remember -that it's all dirty business anyway. Every step you take is a surrender. -Down, down, into bottomless confusions you sink yourself. You haven't -grown into art. You have built yourself into art. You haven't written -out of people and life. You have written out of scholars and books. You -have committed in words all the felonies of the calendar. But because -they are words you haven't felt guilty. You say: They are only words. -Why should a man be expected to be scrupulous with words? You might as -well say of love: Love is only love. And you might as well ask: Why -should a man be expected to be scrupulous with love? If the right word -pays use it. But if it's more profitable to use the wrong word, use -that. You express every horror of the white slave traffic. But what -shall we say of the word slave traffic? There are houses of bondage. And -there are books of bondage. Writers say words. But only a writer rare -among writers says the word. Who is the criminal? The man who steals -goods or the man who violates a thought. What are you doing with words? -Giving them to life or giving them to death? Making them counterfeit or -keeping them genuine? Not trying to get life from words? But rather -giving life to words? You merchants in words. You traders of dreams. You -who are always trying for art but who never try for love. You who always -estheticise with the elect but refuse to fraternize with the crowd. You -who go the way the wind blows. You who yield to art the tribute of life -instead of exacting for life the tribute of art. You who are the -climbers. You who would give up your souls for a phrase. You who would -rather write a pretty sentence. You who would rather have a style. You -who would rather be classified with the intellectuals. You who whatever -you are beg, borrow or steal your way into eminence. You distorters of -scripture. You criminals of words. You parricides of gospels. You -executioners of discovery. You smotherers of freedom. You writers who -are trying to write. - -You writers who are trying to write. Stop trying to write. Then you can -write. Live. Let the writing take care of itself. Trust yourselves to -moods. Trust yourselves to words. Trust yourselves to what may happen. -Then something worth while will turn up. The man who argues about his -sins is sick. The artist who argues about his technique is sick. That -accounts for all the dead books. A man who's busy telling a story is -spending no time wondering how his English is. I wouldn't advise you to -study to be an artist? No. I'd rather have you study not to be an -artist. If you'll only let yourself alone your art will come. And if -you'll only let your art alone your life will come. In that perfect -result your spirit will triumph. But if you interfere with the fine -balance either way you'll nullify the victory. Sometimes when I see all -the liars of the world I wish all the books might have remained -unwritten. But sometimes when I read a great book I see how even all the -little books are excused. The man who tries to live generally dies. But -the man who is indifferent to life becomes immortal. The super man is -the man who's superior to life or death. The super book is the book -that's superior to technique. The super merchant is the merchant who's -superior to buying and selling. Super writing is the writing that's -superior to authorship. You are not to be curious about writing. You are -to just write. You are not to be curious about the reward. You are to -just take what comes. If you're prosperous you're to ask: What's wrong -with me? And if you're a failure you're to ask: Do I deserve such honor? -You are not to say: I'll put a book into my life. You're to say: I'll -put a life into my book. You are not to produce a work of art. You are -to produce a work of life. You may have to give up your best adjectives. -Or maybe your largest nouns. Or maybe a virile verb or two. To get what? -To get life. You've got to give up everything to get life. The whole -language if necessary. The whole fabric of delicate grace. All the -flowers of speech. All the rhymes and lilts. All the niceties of manner -and the assurances of routine. They must all go. All effort must go. -You've not only got to be free of the alphabet. And not only free of the -traditions. And not only free of the cliques. But you've got to be free -of effort. You've got to cease trying. You've got to get where you have -stopped caring or not caring. My call is for indifference. I say you are -not to go round humble about what you dont do and proud about what you -do do. Life dont call for arguers and hairsplitters. Do what you cant -help doing. Refuse to do what you can help doing. Ease up on your nerves -and your ambitions. Desire is richest in the absence of desire. A man's -lungs dont ask any questions. They just breathe. His feet walk. His eyes -open and shut. Shall a man's art do less? Shall it consume itself in -quibbles? Shall it dress itself according to the mode? Or shall it stay -in rags? You cant have both things. So which will you have? You cant -advance and retreat at the same time. So which will you do? Can you -imagine yourself neither alive nor dead? Can you see yourself neither -anxious nor not anxious? Can you conceive of yourself as staking all and -staking nothing on the survival of a book? No man can become an artist -short of that. No artist can become a man short of that. Nirvana to -technique. Oblivion to rules and traditions. Letting the soul retreat to -nebula every time it wishes to advance to creation. Starting all over -again with every word. Making every word again the first word. Are you -to refrain from scheming? Yes. You are to let the waters flow unto their -normal levels. You are to let the law take its course. The law of words. -The law of books. A man may get into the way of looking too much into -himself. A book may have a man's fault. It too may brood too much. Most -every book that ever tried to be a book has gone bankrupt. And most -every book that didn't worry whether it was a book or not has won a -place in the human circle. It's an awful thing for a man to want to be -good. It's as awful as for a man to want to be bad. It's an awful thing -for a man's style to want to be a book. It's as awful for a man's book -to want to be a style. It's terrible to want to be the worst man in the -world. But it's far more terrible to want to be the best man in the -world. You writers who try: you must keep on trying till you get beyond -trying. The man who tries: he may sell out: he may go into the market -with his equity. But the man who's got past trying: he's unshakably -defiant. You fraud rhymers. You humbug versifiers. You dictionary -hunters. You users of crooked words for straight. You professors and -poets. I call on you to stop trying. I dont want to hear any more of -your claims. I only want to hear of your love. I dont want you to waste -your time naming yourselves. I dont care what you are called. I am only -interested in what you are. You make me sick trying to be clever. Now -make me well not trying to be dull. I'm as tired seeing you try to write -as I'd be seeing you trying not to write. I want you to quit. I want you -to get where you couldn't sell if there was a buyer and where no one -else could buy if there was a seller. I want to see you who have been in -verbal bond set spirit free. I want to see you who have given up all the -life you know for words willing to give up every word you know for life. -You writers who are trying to write. - - - - - Every seed counts in the harvest: - - In the harvests of orchards and fields: in the harvests of bodies - and souls: - - In the harvests of the topless years: in the harvests of the - bottomless spaces: - - In the harvests of cruelty and war: in the harvests of fires and - frosts: - - In the harvests we win in our love: in the harvests we lose in - our hate: - - In the harvests that are swept into graves: in the harvests that - finish before they begin: - - There is no better or worse in the harvests: all counts for all - in all: - - Every seed counts in the harvest. - - - - - ALL THE ENGINEERS PERISHED - - -All the engineers perished. The ship went down. Some were saved. Some -were lost. The rich were mostly saved. The poor were mostly lost. But -the engineers: they all drowned. They all stuck to their posts. Not one -of them lived to tell how the rest died. They had no chance to tell the -world about each other. How heroic they were. How they nonchalantly -smoked their pipes as they stood waist deep in water. How they cracked -jokes to the last. They just stayed below. They took their medicine. -They may have squealed. God knows. But they didn't run. They kept the -lights burning as long as their hearts kept beating. Who has told their -story? Let me tell it. While you are busy with the somebodies let me -speak of the nobodies. While you are celebrating the people with names -let me celebrate the people who have no names. While you are trying to -estimate how much money went down in the cabin let me try to figure how -much manhood went down in the engine room. While you are counting up the -gods who are not men let me count up the men who are gods. It may be -easy to die with the band playing and the world looking on. But to die -in the stillness with no one looking on may be a bit more solemn. I'm -not against dying. Dying has its points. Dying may be the surest way to -life. Nor am I against living. Living too has things to be said for it. -Living may be the noblest way to death. But I want to say things about -these men and boys I never saw. I want to say things about all the men -and boys I have never seen. The world over, everywhere, yellow or black -or white; the men and boys. I want to call the attention of forgetful -people to the crowd. The crowd itself forgets the crowd. It was sad to -have the crew die. It was sad to have the steerage bunch die locked in a -hole. But that wasn't half as sad as to have the crowd on shore more -curious about the millionaires who died than about the paupers who died. -I'm not drawing lines on heroes. I'm not worrying about heroes anyway. -I'm thinking of people. My heart is drawn to people. It dont hurt what -they wear. Let them wear velvet or canvas. Do you suppose I care whether -they're bad or good? Rich or poor, they're people. Every man belongs -somewhere in the crowd. Do you suppose I care whether he's at the top or -the bottom? When the boat went to pot people went with it. Some because -they had to. Some because they chose to. I cant separate the heroes from -the cowards. So I accept them all as people. When I read of the fifty -engineers that perished I felt as if fifty gods had been snuffed out. -People talk of a man or two or of a few dozen men as if their death was -only a soso bit of news. To me dying seems sense enough. I can see how -we might get used to dying and enjoy it. But we shouldn't waste people. -Our civilization is jealous of property and prodigal of people. I cant -see such waste with equanimity. I want to save people. There's such use -for people. They are so precious. They are our brothers. I want my -brothers. I dont like you to drown them cruelly in the sea. I dont want -you to destroy them in railroad disasters. I hate your wars. They rob me -of my people. What do I care about your balance in bank? One man's life -is worth all balances in bank. Even a mean man's life? Yes. Any man's -life. I pass the derelicts on the street. They are thrown aside. They -have no right in the stream. If they raise a protest they are called to -order. The police tell them to move on. And the priests do too. And the -statesmen. The stores and the factories say move on. There's no place -for them to rest. They're hounded across the earth. So the engineers -perished. No one said much about it. They took the engineers for -granted. Did they take anyone else for granted? They always take the -poor for granted. They expect them to be heroes. And they expect them to -die without a growl. If they growl they are in a panic. If they say: You -die too, they are ungrateful. If they refuse to die they are set down -for cowards. Or maybe killed. They do die. They are sacrificed -everywhere. They give up their lives for everybody and for each other. -Trainmen. Sailors. Soldiers. They are all set up to be shot at or -starved. The women who scrub the floors. The mothers who wash our -clothes. They die for us. These engineers died for us. Fifty-three of -them. Gods who kept a world moving. Gods who stood by the law. Laborers -keep our world going. They're always dying for us. Dying for everybody. -With no decoration. No medals or shoulder straps. Their names dont get -into the papers. They get no hero badges. Poems are not written to them. -No one says: He died like a gentleman. No. Laborers are so busy dying -like men they have no time to die like gentlemen. They just get a little -line or two when the time comes. All the engineers perished. That sort -of a line. Just a statistical record without adjectives. Just a farewell -without gunfire. Just a shrug of the shoulders. Three hundred nobodies -were buried in a mine. Three hundred mere men. Three hundred dirty -Italians perhaps. Three hundred nobodies the slaves of one somebody. -Were they heroes? No one cares. No one even asks. The world is not -curious. They take care of the world. Like the gods. They do everything. -They are the providence of all alike loafers and workers. But they -remain anonymous. They live a little while and die for good. They are -not names. They are numbers. It's not John this or Stephen that or -William the other. It's twelve men. The story dont list them. The story -says: Twenty died. The next day the story says: Two more have died of -their wounds. Nobodies. Died to save you and me. And yet they are -despised. Not buried in consecrated ground. Though consecrating the -ground they are buried in. Or the sea. The nondescript atoms of destiny. -Lost in the cosmic shuffle. My brothers. My lovers. Given to the sea -when it was not hungry and asked nothing. My darling comrades. Stolen -from me when I had a right to them. I tried not to see the big letters -in the paper. But it was too plain to be avoided. All the gods of the -machine went down. All the engineers perished. - -All the engineers perished. All the coal miners were choked to death. -All the children took sick in the factories. All the girls in stores -fainted and had to be sent home. While you've been looking for heroes -I've been looking for women and men. Women and men are good enough for -me. Being a man or a woman is far harder than being a hero. I can find -you heroes but they are growing scarce. The heroes are not improving -any. But the men and women are improving all the time. The heroes are on -top. They dance on the roofs of the world. But the men and women are the -foundations. They are not heroes. They are men and women. When things -happen they are of course scared. All brave people are scared in danger. -Only the cowards have no fear. Only the blind and deaf and loveless are -heroes. A man has a right to be scared. And a woman. That dont mean that -they run or do anything shameful or ridiculous. It only means that they -know what they're up against. But they stay where they belong. They take -care of things. Of this world. They remain in the shadows. Work on -horror-struck in the darkness. Face death trying to beg off in the dead -of the night. The men and women. Who are you who build on men and women? -Who put your palaces on their backs? Who make them carry your burdens? -Who suck them dry? You are heroes. You strut in spectacular places. You -are heroes. But you rob them while they sleep. You are heroes. But you -hit them in the back. You are heroes. But you lock them in the steerage -and let them drown in a box. Yes, you lock them in the steerage. You -have made the labor world a steerage. You have locked all the laborers -in. They live and die without hope. They are jailed in your profits. -Your incomes turn the key in the door. How can they get out? Your world -is for the cabins. There are no boats for the steerage. The boats are -for those who live without working not for those who work without -living. No poor man has a right to live. Existing should satisfy him. -This is not a world of live and let live. It's a world of live and let -die. The heroes own the world that the people make. It takes time to be -a hero. People have no time. They must work. How could the heroes be -heroes if the people stopped working? So the people are not heroes. -They're only men and women. They dont ornament the world. They just feed -it. They just nurse it along through its sicknesses. They just do -everything. Men and women are the ground the heroes walk over. They are -the treasure all the incomes are drawn from. They are the ragtag and -bobtail who are everything and count for nothing. The heroes got the -band playing. No band plays for men and women. A princess in England had -a baby. Parliament was about to congratulate her. Keir Hardie said: Yes, -do it. But he also said: Let's condole with the widows and children of -the miners who were blown to death to-day. Hardie had no taste. They all -told him so. The papers told him so. And the em pees. And the priests of -the church. And scholars in colleges. They agreed that Hardie had no -sense of decorum. For they were congratulating a hero. A princess -mother. But he was only condoling with men and women. What do a hundred -mere men miners amount to compared with one titled baby hero? This world -is not made for men and women. It's made for heroes. It's true it's made -by men and women. But that's no matter. Making a world is one thing. I -can see that. Letting the fellow who didn't make it possess himself of -it. Dont you see that's another thing? Resisting his invasion would be -treason. Every man can see that too. Dont you see it? If you fight for -what dont belong to you you are a hero. If you fight for what does -belong to you you are a coward. How could a bricklayer be a hero? Why, -the very word is against it. Bricklayer. How could such a word describe -a hero? But gentleman. Ah! that's a word now. That's the real thing. -It's natural for a gentleman to be a hero. But no man could accomplish -such a distinction. A man would first have to become a gentleman before -he could in turn become a hero. So the men have given it up. And the -women. They take a back seat. They retire before the grandeur of an -impossible reputation. They just keep on doing what they have always -done. They keep on working and dying. They go down in ships. They -starve. They get maimed by machinery. They look heavy and stunned. They -are stubborn. They make good in their jobs. But they are never mistaken -for heroes. No one points them out on the street for heroes. They bob -along like ordinary atoms. Like ordinary sunlight. Like ordinary air and -water. They are not visited by the great or asked to serve on -committees. They just stay ordinary. They just remain like ordinary food -and shelter. Like ordinary love and hate. Like ordinary gods. And after -a while they perish. They all perish. Like the engineers. Doing last -what they did first. Keeping their appointments. They die ordinary just -as they lived ordinary. Not even aspiring to be heroes. Not referred to -as honorable misses and misters anybody at all. Not spoken of as though -a man or a woman was dead. Spoken of as if a number was wiped off the -slate. These men and women who perish being only men and women. Just as -the engineers who perished were only engineers. - -All the engineers perished. Did you ever meet a hero? I have met heroes. -But they never wore medals or labels. Did you ever meet a martyr who was -conscious of martyrdom? I have met martyrs. But they never knew who they -were. And I never told them. Heroes dont hunt for you. You have to hunt -for them. The hero is not the sun. The hero is an atom in the sun. If -light was conscious of being light it would cease to be light. I know -countless heroes. But they never say anything about heroism. Life is not -heroism. Life is life. One man has more life than another man. He is not -better than other men. He is only more alive. He weighs more. He looks -farther. But he is no hero. A man is affronted if you call him a hero. -He would rather just be a man. I think of a certain man. He was -nonchalantly the most effective man I ever met. Was he a hero? He never -went anywhere theatrically to do anything. He just stayed where he was -and acted his part. The engineers just stayed where they were and acted -their part. As the simplest workman does. As the scavengers do. Just -acted their part. Can a god do more? Should a man do less? I don't say -there are no heroes. I say they are countless. You see the hero in the -exception. I see the hero in the rule. My hero never flourishes a whip. -I see him serving. Let my hero stop serving and he abdicates. Dont -believe anything the hero tells you about himself. Sure things dont -insist on their reality. Every man has his place. Do you call a man a -hero for staying in his place? If I heard anybody call me a hero I'd -begin to suspect myself. I'd take my size and shape over again. I'd go -forty days into the wilderness. I'd bury myself in the slums. I'd want -to get away. To be where I'd escape the measurer. I see the heroes -everywhere. But I see no hero. I see people in their places everywhere. -Often most beautifully in hideous places. Often most hideously in -beautiful places. Like the engineers they all serve. Like the engineers -they will all finally perish. Like the engineers they will all reappear -somewhere again. Heroes? The heroes work underground and overhead -unheralded and unseen. The heroes make our shoes. They work in the -trenches. They nurse babies. They take care of the world. They make it -dirty. And they clean it up. They are its crowd. They are the mobs. They -are the herd. They are the mass. They are all always called by all names -but their real names. They are called dangerous. But if it was not for -them nobody would be safe. They are called ugly. But if it was not for -them nobody would be graceful. They are called stupid. But if it was not -for them nobody would be enlightened. They are the eclipsed, the -obscured, the submerged. But if it was not for them nobody would be a -genius. And you sometimes speak of them as cowards. But if it was not -for them nobody would be brave. You repeat it often enough as a matter -of course that if it was not for the light there would be no shadow. Let -me say it once for all the other way. That if it was not for the shadow -there would be no light. I'm glad. I look everywhere. I discover no -hero. I look everywhere. I never fail to discover heroes. All the -engineers perished. - - - - - I dont know what it is: I dont know where it leads me: I go on - and on: - - Whether along the common road or into the wilderness, I follow: I - go on and on: - - The days are as mysterious as the nights: and the years: they - baffle me: I go on and on: - - Something persuades me: something I like the feel of: it is - veiled but sure: I go on and on: - - I dont know what it is: I dont know where it leads me: I go on - and on. - - - - - WHAT ARE YOU DOING? - - -What are you doing for the cause? Not for yourself. For all. Not to keep -yourself going. To keep the race going. What are you doing for to-morrow -that you didn't do yesterday for to-day? I dont say for what cause. I -say for any cause. I dont ask you what you are doing with tasks I might -set you. I ask what you are doing with tasks that you yourself set. I -know what you do in eating and working at your trade and sleeping at -night. You do that in order not to die. Everybody does that. I ask you -what you are doing in order to live. I know what you say. I read what -you write. I have heard your promises. But this is not enough. This -hardly tells me what I want to learn. I know what you do with what you -have to do. I want to know what you do with what you dont have to do. I -can see how your pay may make you think. I want to know how you make -your pay think. In short, I know what you do as a slave. What I want to -find out is what you do as a master. Did I say master? Yes. Master of -yourself. I never feel like accusing anybody. Like sitting in judgment -on anybody. Down in my heart I acknowledge the last compassion. Rather -anything than that I should forget your priority. Every man somehow -belongs first to himself. Do I say that? Yes. Then I say something more. -He also belongs first to the race. He stands for personality. There he's -for himself. He stands for service and progress. There he stands for the -race. I cant interpret his moods or his impulses. I can guess them. But -their interior purport is beyond the reach of my vision. That is why I -ask: What are you doing for the cause? And that is why I say: I shall -not say what cause. The cause has done everything for you. What are you -doing for it? In all the past it has been doing something for you. Now -you have come. You have inherited its accumulations. What are you doing -for it? I hear you say you dont see what you've got to be thankful for. -I dont charge you with ingratitude. I only ask whether you are grateful. -I dont even say you should do anything for the cause. I only remind you -of what the cause has done for you. I dont ask you whether you have done -your duty. I only ask you whether you feel that you have a duty. I'm not -presenting a bill to you. I only ask whether you owe a bill. The cause -has run an account with you. Do you run an account with the cause? Again -you ask: What cause? And again I say: I wont name the cause. That which -is the holy of holies to you. That is your cause. That which you say -must come before what you put into your belly and on your back. That is -your cause. That which demands sacrifice. That which insists upon its -initial sanctity. That which persuades you more than anything else. That -is the cause. I dont suggest the cause to you. You suggest it to me. -Therefore I have the right to ask you that question which your own -confession leads up to. You dont have to answer to me for it. You have -to answer to your life for it. There's no appeal from the cause. It's -the last court. It says the closing word. What can you say when you have -defaulted? When you have done nothing for the cause? When you have -simply existed and not lived? No man owes anything to a world to which -he cant feel related. If you are an alien. If you are a cosmic vagrant. -If you are lost. If you think of yourself as debris. Then you are not -responsible. Then I dont wonder that you deny your heritage. But if in -any rapt moment of inspiration you but once catch the face between the -clouds you are from that time the servant of the eternal. Then there's -no excuse for pettifogging. Then you can no longer disavow your -responsibility. What are you doing for the cause? For the beyond? For -the next step? Are you giving up anything for it? Or are you asking it -to give up something for you? Do you pray to it for favors? Do you want -cash down? Or are you willing your grandchildren should collect? Do you -sell the cause like you sell goods? And if it's profitable do you bless -it? And if it's profitless do you curse it? When I ask: What have you -done for the cause? I dont refer to anything that you've had visible pay -for. I refer to something that there'll never be any visible pay for. -The cause is always in the darkness ahead. It's always the path -unbroken. It's always the rough of fate. It's always the veil. Always -the curtain. Always the shrouding mystery. Do you serve it for pay or -work for it with love? Do you want to get life from it or do you give -life to get it? One man says God. Another man says Cause. Any name might -be any other name so it means the same thing. When I see what you do or -dont do I know whether you are only a boarder on the earth or whether -the earth is your home. I know whether you are a brother among comrades -or a chance acquaintance among enemies. What are you doing for the -cause? - -You are doing nothing for the cause. You are making a living. But you -are not making life. You are personal. You have not surcharged yourself -with the general inspirations. Your motive is profit not service. You -want to get ahead no matter how. You dont want to stay behind no matter -why. Let anybody suffer. You mean to rejoice. You dont make way for the -world. The world makes way for you. Service is not master. Profit is -master. Downing someone else. Making good because someone else makes -bad. That is your code. Staying alive no matter who goes dead. Sponging -on life. Loafing on others. Taking anything you can any way you can get -it. Accepting none of the odium of the cause. Shrinking from anathema. -Avoiding unpopular opinions. Letting anyone do the work of progress. You -doing nothing. That's the code. Others queer themselves for an idea. Do -you? Anything but that. You pat them on the back. But you sneak the -price. You encourage them to go on. But you dont go on with them. You -scab on the revolution. They put up their lives. You put up nothing. -They die that you may live. You live that they may die. It's bad enough -to scab on the body. But it's infinitely worse to scab on the soul. You -are strike breakers. You undersell. Just as you undertalk. Just as you -underspend. Just as you underact. You hear the cause defamed and say -nothing. When the battle is on you are nowhere to be found. You dont -even carry water. You scab on your brother. You scab on your age. You -are the revolutionist gone to wood. There's no flower on your stem. You -let the others do the fighting. But you claim your share of the spoils. -You say: These theories will be all right some time. But that some time -will never be your time. My ears know your voice. I can tell when you -are around though you say nothing. Little as you know it, I follow you -through all the intricacies of your psychic retreats. Do you think you -can cover your tracks? Right or left, up or down, in or out, across or -around: wherever you go I tally you. Every step you take is within my -horizon. Do you resent my inevitable attendance? You say: I mean the -same thing you do. And you say: I am with you, only not so fast. You -say: You can count on me, too, but not too soon. You say: You can depend -upon my good will, but not too far. You've always some reason for -holding back. Some reason for not putting up money or service. Some -reason for withholding your confession. Somebody is always too violent -for you. Too extreme. Too exacting. Too inevitable. You want at the same -time to be and not to be. You let other men queer themselves for you. -You see them lose their reputations. You know they put their livings in -the scale for the cause. But you dont raise a finger to help them. You -hug your poor life as if it was rich. You husband your prostituted -treasure as if it was righteous. You let them work for all while you -work for yourself. You are the master scab. You are the scab left over -after all the other scabs have been beaten. And you not only scab on -your contemporaries. You scab on your grandchildren. You scab on the -future. You are sold out. You are pinkertoned. You have betrayed the -crowd. You are one thing when you think and another thing when you live. -You are one thing in what the world knows you for and another thing in -what you know yourself for. You are the shot from the rear. Our enemies -challenge us face to face. But you knife us in the dark. You are the -margin of faithless revolution. You are the interior force which flings -us into the clutches of reaction. I meet you every day I live. You pat -me on the back. You congratulate me. You do everything but avow me. You -are half a revolutionist minus a whole revolutionist. You dont scab the -labor market. You scab civilization. You scab the army on the march. You -create the panic of battle. You put the poison in the soup. You take all -and give nothing. You beg what you cant borrow. You borrow what you dont -want to steal. You steal what you dont mean to work for. You are the -scab of the revolution. You do nothing for the cause. - -What are you doing for the cause? You do everything for the cause. You -work for the cause as the sun sheds light. You dont hunt places in which -to hide yourself away. You hunt the open and there face the world. You -dont wait to hear someone else say the word first. You say it. You dont -ask anybody to try the water to see if it's cold. You try it. And you -dont care if it is cold. You're as ready to spend your last as your -first cent. Some people are always wondering what other people will give -them. Some people are always wondering what they'll give other people. -But the lover dont argue about himself. He loves. Nor do givers argue -about themselves. They give. They are niagaras of benefaction. They dont -know it themselves. They have to be reminded of it. Nothing so surprises -a great man as the idea that he amounts to anything. Nothing so startles -the generous man as the idea that he is liberal. Nothing seems so -impossible to the hero as the idea that he is courageous. My heart has -no shall I or shall I not. I am not allowed to play any yes and no game -with myself. Listen to what I say. Down in me where I'm deepest there's -no hissing snake's-nest of alternatives. Run your knives clear through -me and I wouldn't do but the one thing. Every drop of my blood flows the -one way. Down over that steep cliff goes all my love, which is all my -life. I never spend a minute trying to find out what my duty is. There -is no duty. I'm just driven. There is no duty. I just keep on. When I -say cause I say sun and stars and earth and air and food. I say love and -those I love. I say that which makes life and is made by life. If I -hesitated an instant there would be no cause again. There would be only -empty space and hourless time. If I drew back one inch order would -revert to chaos. That which is not worth all is worth nothing. If I said -I'll see I'd be lost. If the tides said they'd see. If the storm said -it'd see. If yesterday said to to-morrow that it'd see. If birth said to -being born that it'd see. If dying said to death it'd see. If Etna's -fires said they'd see. If the ices of the north said they'd see. If a -fragment of an atom said it'd see. It'd be the same as if I'd say I'll -see when my name is called. If I left it to my purse to see. If I left -it to my properties to see. If I left it to my prospects or my -privileges to see. Then I'd not see at all. I'd be stone blind. If I -said that the cry of the scab is the voice of God. If I said that the -chorus of the dollars is the psalm of paradise. If I said that the -prayer of apology is the savior of souls. Then I'd not hear at all. I'd -be stone deaf. What are you doing for the cause? Do I want you to be a -fool for the cause? Yes. That's the only way you can be wise for -yourself. Do I want you to give up facts for dreams? Yes. That's the -only way you can turn dreams into facts. Do I want you to give -everything to the poor? Yes. That's the only way you can become rich to -the crowd. I dont want you to put your hand into your pocket and take it -out empty. I dont want you to put thought into your brain and take it -out empty. I dont want you to put love into your heart and take it out -empty. I don't want you to say to the cause: I'll think it out over -night. I dont want you to say: I may help some but dont expect too much -of me. I dont want you to say: I'll ask my wife or my husband or my -father or my mother or somebody. I dont even want you to ask your own -spirit. I want you to act. I want you to answer before the question is -put. I want you to spring before the challenge is issued. I want you to -warm up before the fire is lit. Do I want you to go out cold nights when -you might stay home and be comfortable? Yes. More than that. Do I want -you to take your fortune in your hands and go do something impossible? -Yes. More than that. Do I want you to choose misery maybe in place of -joy? Yes. More than that. Do I want you to stake your life on the issue? -Yes. More than that. I want you to do more than all that. I want you to -do more than debate and quarrel and wonder and waver even if you decide -right in the end. I want you to go on as if you had nothing to do with -proceeding: I want you to surrender as if you had nothing to do with -yielding. I dont want you to wait till you are called. I want you to -call. Whenever anything goes short: I want you to step into the gap. I -dont want you to ask: How can I? I want you to say: I couldn't do -anything else. What are you doing for the cause? - - - - - They talk about the rock of ages: there is no rock of ages: there - are only the people: - - If I build on the people I build true for always: if I build on - myself I build on the shifting sand: - - There is no rock of ages: there is only the human heart: there is - only love: - - If I build on the heart, on love, I build for always: if I build - on the body, on hate, I build on the shifting sand. - - - - - I CLAIM EVERYTHING - - -I claim everything for the people. And everything is not too much. The -individual has got to learn to say: I am the people. And the people have -got to learn to say: We are the individual. Everything springs from the -people. Everything goes back to the people. I'm not interested in suns. -I'm interested in people. Mountains and moons and trees have no meaning -to me until they are peopled. Your philosophies and dreams are -insignificant till they are peopled. I know nothing but people. I -comprehend nothing but people. If you sing a song I hear people in it. -If you paint a picture I see people in it. If I didn't hear the people -or see the people I might as well be deaf and blind. If you tell me -there are so many rivers in a country or so many acres of ground and ask -me: What do you think of that? I say: I dont think of that: I only think -of people. If you name the great men to me and ask: What do you make of -them? I answer: I make nothing of them: I make everything of the people. -If you ask me: What do you read in the book? I reply: I read the people -in the book. I am at home where people are. I am alien where people are -not. There's no use trying to get me to approve of anything that dont -include the people. That which dont include the people is empty. Just as -a man's heart if it does not include the people is void. I am drunk with -the crowd. I am bathed in the mass. I give myself to the common stream. -I dont want to be found somewhere off alone. I want to be lost somewhere -off alone. I want to be lost somewhere in the crowd. I never feel so -pinioned as when I'm alone. I never feel so free as when I'm in the -crowd. The crowd is my father and mother. My eyes are not enthralled by -sunsets and seastorms. I want people: only people. Let me have people -and I'm happy. Deny me people and I'm defeated. Rich as a man's soul may -be in its own right a man's soul is incomputably richer in the people's -right. Every time I wander from the people I feel as if I am choosing a -vacuum for my inheritance. Dont you see how it is? I draw all my checks -on the people. My personal signature is not valid. I have no account -with myself. I can never overdraw my account with the people. You say: -God said: Let there be light. I say: The people say: Let there be light. -You talk about inferior people and superior people. I see no superior -people and no inferior people. I see only people. When I say people I -dont say good and bad. No: nor geniuses nor fools. No: nor the saved and -the damned. No. When I say people I only mean people. I dont mean whites -or blacks or Hindus or Americans. I mean people. If I say that the world -belongs to people I don't mean a few owning for all or all owning for a -few but all owning for all. If I say the people are divine I dont mean -divine people. No. I only mean people. The people are divine but there -are no divine people. So when I say I claim everything for the people I -dont mean everything with exceptions. I mean everything without -exception. I dont owe the good people as separated from the bad people. -I owe both. And I owe the bad people more than I owe the good people. -For the good people have been good for themselves. And the bad people -have been bad for me. I claim everything for the people because the -people are everything. I make no claims for the green grass and -earthquakes and shipwrecks and arts and the will of the majority. Such -incidents are secondary. My claims are all for the people. After you -give me the people I have everything else. But if you refuse me the -people then I have nothing at all. If your theories dont give me the -people. Or your governments. Or your sciences. Or your vast cities. Or -anything you build or pride yourselves upon. If they dont give me the -people they are a fraud against which I revolt. But if they give me the -people then I return you a receipt in full. I want people. I'm willing -to go without anything. Without what you poorly call riches. Without -what you weakly call power. Without what you obscurely call distinction. -I'm willing to go without all that if you'll only give me people. Any -people. The rough and tumble average. The nonchalant non-elect. The -noisy quiet brutal kind crowd. Though I am dashed to death against its -rocky shores I surrender myself without equivocation to the furious sea. -Everything is not too much. I claim everything for the people. - -You claim nothing for the people. Nothing is not too little for the -people. You lock your doors to keep the people out. You lock your heart -to keep yourself in. You say dollars. I say people. You say kings and -Presidents. I say people. You say the sculpture of Greece, the paintings -of Italy, the music of Germany. I say people. You say: But for them. I -say: But for these. You point out a few figures lost in the distance. I -direct you to the crowd at your elbow. You say one and another. You say -somebody. I say all. You say fame. Intermediaries. Middlemen. -Interpreters. I say people. You are eminent for a while by reason of -what you take. But I say no one can be eminent for good except by reason -of what he gives. You think the people need saviors. I say the saviors -need people. The people make money for you. You spend money for the -people. The people make so that you may have. You dont make so that -people may have. You give me leaders. I give you people. You say the -leaders lead. I say the leaders follow. That the people lead. Leaders -would be useless without people. People would still be people without -leaders. You say brain should be paid extra. I say nothing should be -paid extra. That pay should not be for talent but for need. What a man -needs. That should be his pay. What a man contains. That should be what -he gives. A witty man said: The more I see of men the more I think of -dogs. I will say that in another way. The more I see of those you call -the somebodies the more I think of those you call the nobodies. We live -in an age of saviors. I am looking for an age of people. The saviors are -multitudinous. The priest takes your soul. He's going to save your soul. -The plutocrat takes your body. He's going to save your body. You see, -they're going to save you by destroying you not by fortifying you. So -they seize the pictures to save art. And the operas and symphonies to -save music. You are to be saved by being denied everything. If they gave -you anything you'd be lost. They are safe from luxury no matter how much -they have. You are in peril of luxury no matter how little you have. -They fool you with their paraphernalia. You are awed not by their brains -but by what they tell you of their brains. You take their word for it. -You should take your life for it. You are willing they should enjoy for -you. Should travel for you. Should eat and drink for you. Should play -games for you. What have you for yourself? Resignation. Remember that -text which has been immemorially the solace of the robber. The poor you -have with you always. You must have the poor with you always because you -must have the rich with you always. Who would save the poor if the rich -didn't? And if the poor were not saved what would become of the rich? -The great you have with you always. You must have the little with you -always because you must have the big with you always. It wouldn't do to -wipe out the distinctions. To fill in the gap. That chasm is kept -impassable by the hand of providence. You cant live for yourselves. -Someone must live for you. You cant live for yourself. You who dig in -ditches. You who work in mills. Harry Thaw must live for you. You who -eat at lunch counters. You cant live for yourself. The fellow who dines -at the St. Regis: he must live for you. Every time you try to live for -yourself some savior interferes to live for you. You've got to keep -yourself thin to keep him fat. There's no other way to sustain the -delicate balances of destiny. The church will live for your soul. The -state will live for your body. You find all the saviors waiting to live -for you. Insisting on living for you. Refusing to let you live for -yourself. Taxing you to death to crown themselves for life. You have -thought of the saviors dying that you might live. Think again. And you -will see yourself dying that the saviors may live. My life is the -people's life. I no more die for the people than the people die for me. -Look the saviors straight in the face. Defy them. Refute them by an -appeal to your own treasure. Every time by an appeal to your own -treasure. Every time you save yourself you destroy a savior. Do you want -to be saved by another? Better be damned by yourself than saved by -another. What is the price of salvation? Your body and soul are the -price. You are to give up everything. That is the price. Not give up -everything to all. No. That would be a fair price. Give up everything to -the saviors. That is the price. That is the pirate fee. What is the -price of salvation? Your alleys and gutters and prostitutes and -factories and premature death are the price. At every doorway stands a -savior. He charges you for going in. He charges you for coming out. -Profit is a savior. You pay its toll. Rent is a savior. You pay its -toll. Interest is a savior. You pay its toll. What is left after you -have settled with the saviors? The saviors are left. But nothing is left -of you. Nothing is not too little for the saviors. You claim nothing for -the people. - -I claim everything for the people. And everything is not too much. What -do the people claim for themselves? So far they have claimed little. -They have let the saviors give them religions. They have let the saviors -give them economics. They have stood aside to let the saviors pass. -Instead of making the saviors stand aside to let the people pass. The -saviors have given them religions which were blasphemies. The saviors -have given them economies which were robberies. The saviors have been. -The people are to be. The people are next. Now the people will give the -saviors religions which are reverent. And they will give the saviors -economies which are justice. The saviors used to succeed. Now you may -notice that the saviors fail. The saviors only succeed when the people -fail. When the people succeed the saviors fail. Saviors belong with -kings and owners and bosses. When the people at last object to being -ruled or owned or bossed the saviors will disappear with the saved. The -mendicant and the millionaire are symptoms of the same disease. The -savior and the saved are symptoms of the same disease. The superior -person and the inferior person are symptoms of the same disease. The -capitalist and the laborer are symptoms of the same disease. They -require only one treatment. You cant get one without the other. You cant -rid yourself of one without the other. The people dont need saviors -because they dont need to be saved. You cant save people for the same -reason that you cant damn people. The people are people. That's the -answer to all the saviors. The people are themselves enough answer. -People intoxicate me. My eyes see people. (I dont acknowledge things.) -Look for, find, abandon themselves, to people. Dont acknowledge saviors. -Reach out to, are reached out from, people. Everywhere I meet the -threatening saviors. Do you shrink in the mire till you can borrow wings -to take you to heaven? I know the black in the people. But the black in -the people is not the people. Even the white in the people is not the -people. The hate or love in a man is not the man. The man is the man. -The people are the people. It's stupid to say that. It's like saying a -cloud is a cloud. It's like saying a star is a star. But what else can -be said? Time and space are time and space. Can you damn or save time -and space? The people are the people. Can you damn or save the people? -You might as well tax the skies as tax a man. As well assume to save the -sun for pay as save the people for pay. As well pretend to be the -necessary middleman between Jupiter and the moon as between people and -people. I make the whole claim because I have the whole faith. And -everything is not too much. I claim everything for the people. - - - - - I see what you see all around: the half lives lived: the cruel - quarrels of brothers: - - I see what you see: haven't I lived where the fight is thickest? - - But I would have no hope of peace if I could not say: I guess - it's all about love: - - Just as a man with a woman and their child are just about love: - - Just as passion is just about love and consecration is just about - love: - - Just so the brute is just about love and the man into whom he - emerges is just about love: - - I would miss the main point if I missed that: if I could see hell - and not see heaven, I would miss the main point: - - I guess it's all about love: I dont know what it's all about but - I guess it's all about love. - - - - - TO LEAVE NO DOOR UNOPENED - - -To leave no door unopened. To pass freely in and out. To leave no heart -unopened. To leave no life unopened. To get everything between out of -the way. To make it possible for desire to reach across the gap. That is -your business and mine. That is what we owe ourselves and each other. To -make light of boundary lines. To efface barriers. To abolish tollgates. -All civilization is the opening of doors. All art is the opening of -doors. And science. It, too, is the opening of doors. We have been out -of sight of each other. Too many of us sit in perpetual executive -session. Most of us exclude. We dont include. We close ourselves in -somewhere. We look down and up but we dont look face to face. Not -because we dont trust others. Rather because we dont trust ourselves. We -think the trouble is with them. The trouble is with us. We withdraw. We -get away. Crawl into holes. Into incomes and fames. Crawl into them and -draw the covers over. We dont welcome life. We shrink from it. We never -keep open house. We live in prisons and we are our own jailers. We are -not trying to live as big as we can but as little as we can. What are we -after? You: what are you after? And I: what am I after? I say we must -step out and around and over and under and across. We must do all we can -to discredit what holds us down and keeps us in. It is not life but -death for us to shrink from the alternatives of liberty. I give a free -pass to the universe. For day and night. For always. For the suns and -stars to walk in any time. For the seasons to come and go as they -choose. That is, I declare myself wide open. I take all the shutters -down. I put all the doors back on their hinges as far as they will go. I -throw all keys away. Then I invite the world in. I say to the world: -Possess yourself of me. I say to the world: I dont want to deny you -anything. I want the world to take me at my word. And you, my brother: I -want you to take me at my word. If life is a monastery then I choose -death. If life is asceticism then I choose death. If life is classes and -superiors and owners then I choose death. If life is a stockade. If life -is the sacrifice of all to a few. If life is being blind and deaf and -dumb. If life is living back of a high wall. If life is this sort of -thing then I choose death. The path of life is not to the grave but to -the cradle. The signal, the symbol, of life is not division but unity. -What is the use of living if you cant be alive? Why should I hide in a -hole when I should be a rover? Why should I keep myself out of the main -currents of experience? Man from the start has been breaking loose from -the drag of the dust. He has sometimes resorted to violent means to his -end. He has dashed thrones to the earth and killed tyrants. He has gone -to war. He has robbed his neighbor. He has so far not called his brother -by his right name. He has lived inside himself. But that's only half a -life. You live a whole life only when you live inside others as well as -inside yourself. But with all his pausings and writhings he has helped -himself along towards deliverance. For there is only one deliverance. -The deliverance of a man to his brother. The unimpeded approach of one -man to another. All time, all space, are for that. That is what time and -space are. That is what civilization is. Getting acquainted. That is -civilization. Mercilessly wiping out the last atom between. So that -there is not only nothing to climb over but nothing to stumble over in -passing to and fro. That is what it was and is and must hereafter all be -for. Life. Art. Everything. It must all be for that. To get armies and -navies and properties from between. If it was not all for that then it -would all be for nothing. If it left that unachieved then it would leave -life unachieved. If it is right for anything to remain between then I -see no reason why everything you please should not remain between. Do -you see a door anywhere? Throw it open wide. Do you see an interfering -income or ambition anywhere? Throw it open wide. I do not say: Be gentle -in doing it. I say: Throw it open: dont wait a minute: throw it open. - -To leave no door unopened. Is there any short cut from a man to himself? -Every time you shut a door you shut it on yourself. When you close one -out you are one time shut in. When you close the people out you are -millions of times shut in. You cant shut out without shutting in. Every -dollar you lay away against others is laid away against yourself. The -barrier you set up against the world. It's as hard for you to get over -it as for the world to get over it. It's like hating somebody. You may -do him some harm. But you do yourself worse harm. Your hate could not -stick to him. But it sticks to you. The hater always wears the scars of -hate. You cant have yourself unless you have others. The penalty of -being exclusive is exclusion. You feed only one light. If you put that -light out for me you put it out for yourself. I know you think you can -go it alone. But you cant. You may stand very firm. But you are on the -common ground. There is no other ground. You may breathe in the air off -your housetop. But you breathe the common air. There is no other air. -Nothing will work if it is set up to separate individuals or peoples. It -may last for awhile. But it cant be perpetuated. That which is not -rooted in the people cannot survive in the person. You cant alienate -your life. You can kill yourself. But you cant alienate yourself. You -may do it through an income. You may do it through an art. You may do it -through ambition. It makes no difference how. But you are from then on -dead. You may still hang around. But you are dead. For no man can live -only in his own few feet and pounds of mortal flesh. He needs a world to -live in. To live in a world means to live the life of that world. Not -monkeyishly. Not as a slave. No. But within the horizon of its ideals -and sympathies. Living the world's life in your own way. Giving the -world's life your identity. But living it. Not trying to break with it. -Not using property or fame or anything as a pretext for isolation. Our -institutions and systems are arbitrary checks put upon the spirit. Even -seats of learning. Even exhibitions of pictures. The artist is used as a -check upon art. That is, upon life. He is put in the way instead of -leading the way. You cant steer a world into your back yard. But you can -steer your back yard into a world. You say man cant live by bread alone. -No. He cant. He must live by love. He cant live in himself alone. He can -only live in the crowd. How can you pass from yourself to yourself -again? With all the money between. With the power between. With the -pride between. With the ambition between. How can you? How can you hope -to live a true life in such a false relation? How can you expect to lead -a seeing life in such a blind contingency? You are all closed out as -well as closed in. It cant matter which side of the door you are on. It -is equally fatal either side of that door. Worse, if worse either side, -on the inside than the outside. It is better to be closed out than to -close out. It is better to be a pauper outside than a millionaire -inside. I would rather die in the life of the crowd than live in the -death of myself. You are in on the ground floor. The ground floor is -hell. Dont you feel the flames lick and bite at you? I cant put anything -between myself and others. It is perfidy. It is as if I sold the people -out. Any personal wish. Any individual instinct. Anything. Any -interrupting item however innocent is a crime. That is why our proud -profits are ignoble. That is why the professional successes are -cluttering debris. That is why nothing but absolute abandon will signify -in the last count. We dont want to be hid away in holes. Our fortunes -hide us away in holes. Our eminences hide us away. Getting ahead of -competitors hides us away. I get a little more money than the next man. -Then I hide away from him. Then I hide him away from me. A private -victory is not integration. It is dissolution. Social wealth stands for -the open door. Personal acquisition stands for the frowning wall. I -indict the systems because they drive men apart. Every institution -created for a caste sits with closed doors. It thinks itself the -custodian of a treasure. It is only the trustee of an assumption. For it -always closes out infinitely more than it closes in. I indict the -systems because they close their creators in. Because they make -themselves useless. Because they are arrayed against the mob. There's -only one good side to the mob. That's the inside. The mob. All. There's -only one good side to it. Nothing is so little as a big thing in a jail. -Nothing is so big as a little thing free out of doors. Our civilization -is a big thing. But it's in jail. We've got to get it out of doors. That -is, you've put our civilization in vaults and used it for the few -against the crowd. We've got to level the vaults. We've got to get our -civilization out of doors. We've got to hand it around. Open all the -doors. Let everybody in. Yes, even the derelicts. Hand civilization -around. Let everybody help himself. That's crazy? So it is. But nothing -in this world ever got its growth till it was crazy. No man ever did -anything to push things along beyond till he began to be called a fool -and a suspect and was avoided by his friends. Throw everything wide -open. Dont worry about the weather. The weather with love in it wont -hurt whatever it is. Your job, my job, is this: To leave no door -unopened. - -To leave no door unopened. Do you know what that means? It means to -leave no heart unopened. To leave no income unopened. To leave no book -or picture or song unopened. It is a challenge. You are to trust -yourself to love not to a lock. You are to trust yourself to people not -to yourself. You are to trust yourself to the whole not to a part. You -will no longer trust yourself to your dollars. You will no longer fasten -yourself in. You will no longer worry to-night wondering about to-morrow -morning or worry to-morrow morning wondering about sundown. You have -great evidences. The vast properties. The cities and the farms. The -railroads and the telegraphs. The sure and the counterfeit. They are -immense. They cant be counted up. But there are better evidences. You -dont quote them. You sneer at them or you pass them by. The people. They -are better evidences. The love of the people. The idealism of the -people. The revolt of the people. They are better evidences. After all -your buildings are set on the ground. Your riches are hidden dead in -vaults. But the people are vital and flowing. People make houses. But -have houses ever made people? I have seen houses so large they became -aware of their littleness. I have seen people so modest they became -aware of their immeasurability. We have made our towns ruthless. They -are not fit to live in. We expect people to live in them without love. -We can live nowhere without love. It may be necessary to sweep half our -world away in the interest of the other half. It may be necessary to -stampede all values. To abrogate all treaties. To repeal all laws. To -annul all respectabilities. All in the interest of life. We have to open -all doors. No plea can resist this purpose. As sure as the sun comes up -this will come up. You have planned your world. But you have left love -out. You want everything protected. Especially property. Property. I say -take all your protectives off property. I say put all your protectives -on people. If no one owns no one will steal. If all own all will be fed. -Every time you write a deed a door is closed. Every time you repudiate -possession a door is opened. If you take down your shutters you will -find it is day. Matters have gone on farther than you suppose. Farther -towards love. Give them a show. Forget that you are a proprietor and -remember that you are a man. Forget that you own anything and remember -that you are something. I dont advise you to destroy your properties. I -only say: Take your name off them. How much better it looks not to be a -boss or a superior. How much more like opening doors. How much more like -fraternity. We cant have a world of brothers as long as any door is -closed any where against any body. Nor while any piece of land or goods -or any power of man's arms or brains is closed against any body. This -has got to be made a wide open world. I dont care where profits go. Nor -where privileges. Nor what becomes of the elect. Nor whether anyone ever -paints a picture again or preaches of beauty. I dont care. I am first of -all interested in men and women. I want to know first of all what -becomes of men and women. If men and women get what belongs to them the -graces will take care of themselves. But if the ornaments are put first -then they are discredited and must be dethroned. What we will do with -the esthetic will depend first and last of all upon what we do with men -and women. I want every door opened as far as it will go. And every -heart. And every fortune. And every opportunity. And every vista. I dont -want anybody standing anywhere asking anyone: Where's your ticket? As if -the sun before shining should ask: Where's your ticket? Or the air we -breathe: Where's your ticket? All have made what the few have. Yet the -few ask: Where's your ticket? As if love should ask: Where's your -ticket? There is no ticket. There is the open way. There is no ticket. -There is the eager willing impulse. There is no ticket. There is the -unhesitating sacrifice and consecration. There is no ticket. There are -only fields on which we share the harvest. There is no ticket. There is -the commune. There is no ticket. There are only people. When you push -through no one asks: Where are you going? Everybody says: Walk right in. -When you look for what you want no one asks: Will you pay cash down for -it or shall I charge it? Everyone says: Help yourself. You say: People -never will work in your world. I say: People who get too little so hard -will not stop work because they are to get enough so easy. Everywhere we -go now everything is closed and everybody is asked: Where's your ticket? -Everywhere we go then everything will be wide open and everybody will be -told: Make yourself at home. We are to continue on and on till the last -outcast becomes the first citizen. Till this generation of exiles -becomes the next generation of comrades. To leave no door unopened. - - - - - When you hear of a ship going down at sea do you say: That is the - conclusion? - - When you see one man do a mean thing to another man do you say: - That is the conclusion? - - When you see systems substituted for souls do you say: That is - the conclusion? - - I love the people: I never see the enemy of the people as the - conclusion: - - There is something more to come: after the shadow light is to - come: - - When you fall down, when you are only half a man, I say there is - something more to come: - - Why, dear comrade--after half a man a whole man is to come: out - of you, too, is to come: - - For the conclusion of a man is only in the perfection of a man: - nothing else is a conclusion: - - For the conclusion of sex is only in the perfection of sex: - nothing else is a conclusion: - - And you may be sure that after all the black has come that can - come white will follow: - - And you may be sure that after all the journeys down hill you - will find your way to the crest again. - - - - - HAVE YOU SOLD YOUR SOUL? - - -Have you sold your soul for dirt? And what have you sold your body for? -Have you given away what you are for what you can get? Have you traded -off your body for your soul or your soul for your body? Or have you gone -on taking both with you on equal terms? You may think you have profited -when you have lost. You may believe you are a victor when you are -defeated. I have no quarrel with the earth. But dirt can never take the -place of a man. Nor can a man's living ever take the place of a man's -life. What a man does may be successful. And what a man is may be a -failure. Any one thing in the place of any other thing is a failure. If -we want a man goods wont do. If we want love money wont do. If we want -faith comfort wont do. If we want beauty falsehood wont do. You are all -talking about making your way. Making your way to what? It all depends -on that. To what? A man may make his way. He may cut a tremendous -figure. He may outpace everyone and invite envy and admiration. He may -do all that and still be dead. And then he may do all that is the -opposite of that. He may be the most lamented man in his crowd. He may -do and be all that and still be alive. It's always harder to know what -to do with too much than with too little. I readily get used to -reverses. But I can never quite accommodate myself to a triumph. When -things go against me I always have myself left in my own favor. But when -things go for me I always have myself asking me questions I cant answer. -My body and my soul are imperative. I cant make light of their demands. -Let me sell them out: then what happens? Dirt begets dirt. Reach outside -yourself for something that is only to be found inside yourself: then -what happens? Every grain of sand that gets where it dont belong -interrupts the revolution of the planets. Down the sunbeam dances the -anarchic atom. Have you sold your soul for dirt? Sold your soul for -something not itself? Sold your soul to the alien? I do not accuse you. -I ask you a question. I do not say you do wrong. I ask you why you do -not do right. I do not say you are outside the fold. I invite you inside -the fold. I have no wish to make you a good man or a bad man. I want you -to come into what you were born for. I want you to step out of the way -of the universe and to step into the way of yourself. Do not confuse my -values. I am no despiser of the body. I am no enemy of markets. You may -sell your soul for dirt. Sell sermons as easily as sell goods. I see the -best in the house of Man and the worst in the house of God. I do not -charge. I persuade. I build no fires to burn anybody up. I only build -fires to light the way. Have you betrayed yourself with thirty pieces of -silver? Have you sold yourself? Have you permitted yourself to be sold? -Are you exposed for sale on the bargain counters? You are consigned to -yourself in trust. Have you betrayed your trust? The world is consigned -to itself in trust. Has it betrayed its trust? Have you sold your soul -for dirt? You may have bought souls. That means that you have sold your -soul for dirt. You have no right to buy or sell. As long as buying and -selling lasts you cant help selling your soul for dirt. Nothing can -purify the way as long as one man exacts toll of another man. Everything -should be everywhere. Everybody should help himself. We live in the age -of bought and sold. We are about to pass into the age of help yourself. -I ask you who walk the streets: Have you sold your soul for dirt? I ask -the world of all which includes the world of one: Have you sold your -soul for dirt? Have you sold your soul for manners, forms, titles, -incomes, prestige, position? for anything you put into your belly or on -your back? for anything which makes you superior to anybody else? for -anything which puts the way you do a thing above what you are doing? for -anything in laws or economics or books or arts which serves as a weapon -with which to club the innocent? for anything over ground or under, any -sneaking device of profit, which subjects others to your advancement? -Have you sold your soul for dirt? - -You have sold your soul for dirt. You have conformed. You have said one -and two make four after all the rest. You suspected that one and two -make three. But you did not like to say so. You have obeyed the thing -around you rather than the thing in you. Votes, interests, profits, -privileges, stand for you in place of the soul. You surrender to a job. -You are enslaved to something that was made yesterday. You have sold -your soul for dirt. You can only buy it back with soul. The time will -come when we will sell our dirt for soul. I know what it means to try -that now. It means poverty and banishment. The devil take the hindmost, -they say. The devil will. Or the god will. When you see all the poor. -When you see all those who rob and are robbed. When you see the -devastation the profit system leaves in its wake. When you see all the -confusions of sex. When you see prostitution. Then you know that -something has been sold for dirt. What has been sold. Our civilization. -You and I. The man you sell has not been sold. The man who sells has -been sold. The victim of per cents has not been sold. The victor has -been sold. The hand that draws the knife is the murdered as well as the -murderer. Your genius may be your dirt. The thing you do best. The -possession you are most proud of. The public applause. Your friends. -Your family. Your heredity. They may be your dirt. Even if you sell -yourself for your best loved you sell yourself for dirt. Love can do no -harm. But lovers may sell love for dirt. Anything that's in the way of -the spirit is dirt. You make goods. But if your goods are slave goods -they are dirt. You have no right to make your talent a club with which -to batter down the inefficient. You say every man should be paid -according to his talent. I say that's exactly what they should not be -paid according to. A man's talent may be his best weapon of injustice. -Talent is the coward's weapon. You may be born a king. You may be born a -genius. It's as bad to use a crown of brains as to use a crown of gold -to exploit the humble. Using what you were born with to such an end is -the final cowardice. We use laws. We use forms. We use social position. -Anything within reach. It's the blow in the dark. It's the lie on the -lip. It's the giant taking advantage of the pigmy. You see a little -farther. That is your dirt. Your arm is a little longer. You hear a -little more. You move a little quicker. That is your dirt. All the -inequities come by such a route. All the gloating palaces and the -snarling huts. All the laughing luxuries and the weeping wants. They -come by that route. My best suit of clothes. It comes that way. Less and -more comes by that process. Do you pride yourself on your faculty? -Rather do anything else. Even your faculty may be a tyrant -toll-gatherer. Down every mountain steep tumble your horrified -inferiors. Time and space recognize no large and small, no above and -below, no served and servant. A man has a little better or a little -worse thinking machine. But better or worse are not to time and space -what they are to words. Evil begins when man begins. Tyranny begins when -one man has more heartbeats than another man. When dirt gets on top. -Brains are a whip. You use that whip over others. You make that whip -into statutes, mandates, wage-scales. You make everything else second to -it. You may have got so far that you are horrified when a man makes a -dollar an agent of oppression. You have still to go on till you are -horrified when a man makes his talent an agent of oppression. The king -sits on a throne. The picture hangs in the gallery. The book is on the -shelf of the library. The music is sung in the great hall. The play goes -on in the theater. The game is won or lost in the vast stadium. Do they -circumscribe us? Or do they free us? Are they burdens to carry? Or are -they wings to fly with? Are they for the pleasure of a few? Or are they -for the joy of all? Money may free. Brains may enslave. Money may be the -gentle savior. Brains may be the brutal damner of bodies and souls. You -have sold your soul for dirt if you have used it for the production of -anything but soul. Whether in the market or in the academy. Whether in -play or work. Whether in the midst of your family or abroad in the -crowd. You have sold your soul for dirt. Whether in making money or -staying poor. Whether in the most exquisite beauty of an art or the most -hideous ugliness of a brothel. You have sold your soul for dirt. Babies -at the breasts of mothers are sold for dirt. Fathers who have cared for -children are sold for dirt. Poems, laces, anything, may be sold for -dirt. Anything that gets in the way of life. That is sold for dirt. -Religion, churches, policies of states and industries, are sold for -dirt. Sex. Idealism. The marriage bed. Dreams. They are sold for dirt. -Souls are the dearest things in a cheap world. The house you live in. -The cup of water you hand to the famished. Benefaction. Hospitals for -disease. The very kindnesses of social rectitude. The excuse-mes and -thank-yous of the polite and the amiable. The bowings and scrapings of -parlors. They are sold for dirt. Nothing can pay for souls but souls. -But you take dirt in pay for souls. Every time you get in the way of -life you accept dirt as a settlement for souls. The nights of dalliance. -The hours of love. The perfumed bower. The groves of arcadian ecstasy. -They are sold for dirt. All. All. You have sold your soul for dirt. - -Have you sold your soul for dirt? Have you given up that which is -priceless for a price? Have you ripped off your wings and asked: What's -the use of flying? Have you postponed next year? Have you said: I'd like -to be myself but cant? Or have you said: It's all very well to talk? -Have you always been putting yourself off? Saying: To-morrow will do for -me? That to-morrow after all the to-morrows that never comes? Have you -planned to sell your body for fifty years and then live beyond bargain -and sale? Or your soul? The cry comes to you out of your own deeps. It -wears no disguise. It's you yourself asking questions of yourself. Have -you sold your soul for dirt? In every act of injustice you sell -yourself. When you turn your back on some body. When you steal a man's -wages and call it profit. When you make it harder for some one to live -in order to make it easier for yourself to live. When you call white -black and up down. When you become respectable at some one else's -expense. When you put the show of good manners above the fact of bad -heart. Then you have sold yourself for dirt. When you corner anything. -Even virtue. When you corner pictures or books or curios. When you -corner ideas. When you jealously corner your dreams. When you eat too -much while others eat too little. When you dedicate any of the sources -of life to anything but the common privilege. Then you have sold your -soul for dirt. If your love stops with your family. If you can love your -own children and not love the children of others. If you hog anything in -flesh or spirit. You have sold your soul for dirt. You have called upon -all men to listen. You are for sale. Come here. Listen. Here's a man for -sale. What will you give for him? He is for sale cheap. For he can be -paid for in the basest coin. He can be bought for the dirt under your -bootsole. You can buy him for a house or bonds or goods in a store or -things made in a factory. You can buy him for a crop off a farm. You can -buy him for the clothes he wears and the food he puts into his belly. He -ought to be dear beyond anyone's ability to buy him. But almost anybody -can buy him. He puts such a mean price on himself. He will bargain -himself off for almost anything that will furnish his keep. Have you met -that man? Do you know his name? Can you give me his initials? Does he -live round the corner? Or maybe in your own house? Or do you wake up -nights and say to yourself: He's in this bed? Maybe you tell me he's as -good as he can be under the circumstances. I dont see why any man should -expect to be a man under the circumstances. Light is not darkness under -the circumstances. Death is not life under the circumstances. Right is -not wrong under the circumstances. Every man has to adjust the -circumstances to himself. Dont tell me a man always has to adjust -himself to the circumstances. A man's circumstance is his dirt. I am too -familiar with your underlying assets to assent to this overlying result. -Do I expect you to fight? Am I asking too much? Yes, fight. No: I am -only asking enough. I see nothing preposterous in asking a man to be -what he is. In asking beauty to be beautiful. In asking a song to sing. -In asking gentleness to be gentle. In asking generosity to give. In -asking the cloud to rain. In asking water to run down hill. In asking -the fulfilment of life. What do I ask you for? For the fulfilment of -life--that's all. I decline to call your wars and your exploitations and -your greeds the fulfilment of life. They are rather the fulfilment of -death. I decline to call the barbarism we call civilization the -fulfilment of life. I decline to call the love we call marriage the -fulfilment of life. I decline to call the pride we call art. Or the -austerity we call science. Or the hypocrisy we call religion. I decline -to call them the fulfilment of life. They are the fulfilment of death. I -decline to call the hells the fulfilment of life. The hells of theology. -The hells of profit and loss. The hells of owners and owned. The hells -of poor and rich. The hells of those who have everything and those who -have nothing. The hells of those who make everything the writ of the tax -gatherer. I decline to call them the fulfilment of life. They are the -fulfilment of death. I acknowledge your institutions. I do not dismiss -property. I put dreams and people above all the lauded majesty of -learning and possessions. No man is so little but his head is higher -than your Oxfords and Harvards. No man is so degraded but he outshines -the luster of bonds and trade. You say a man must make a living. I say -no. That is already made for him here or somewhere. What a man must make -is life. To make a living leaves us dirt still. To make life gives us -wings. We want everybody to get out of the way of life. The world. The -crowd. You. I. We must get out of the way of life. If the superman gets -in the way of the underman he is in the way of life. He has sold his -soul for dirt. Would I destroy civilization? Yes--if I could help -civilization by doing so. Have you sold your soul for dirt? Have you -traded down instead of up? I am pulling down the monuments. The great -men. The masters. The leaders and superiors. The geniuses and the -marvels. I shake them down in a common ruin. In order to rebuild -greatness. In order to bring out of all what so far has been all brought -out of some. I turn all values upside down. I turn all ideals and -instrumentalities upside down. In order that man may come up. Now man is -below all the rest. Then all the rest will be below man. Now the soul is -the means and what it produces the end. Then what is produced will be -the means. The soul will be the end. I would demolish everything if -necessary to save everything. Have you sold your soul for dirt? - - - - - And then I hear your voice raised above all the uncertainties of - itself: your voice: it sings: - - Comrades: we must hold together: if we let go of each other for - an instant the stars will drop out of the sky, - - The power of the heart is resistless if it lifts with an infinite - hope, - - The power of the eye is unmeasured if it looks with endless - expectation: - - And then I hear your voice offer everything, withdraw nothing: - for cause or not for cause: - - You do not question us: you love us: you do not doubt us: you - love us: - - You do not bring scales to see what we weigh: you bring love to - see what we live. - - - - - WHEN I LOOK INTO THE FACES - - -When I look into the faces of men and women. When I go to men and women -without distrust. When I put men and women before goods. When I even put -them before their passions. Even put them before their parts. The whole -before its parts. When I do this I find myself somehow at once in touch -with men and women. I no longer make too much or too little of their -good and bad. I no longer pause with ephemeral details. I no longer miss -seeing man in observing men. I no longer go grieved to my work. My feet -are lighter. My heart is gay. My brain is cleared from all eclipses. My -dreams become possible. My insanest rhapsodies are understood. To go -among men and women as one of them instead of above or below them. To -know people for comrades. To see no one so mean he could not be a -brother. To see no one so great he could withdraw from communion. To -fraternize on an equality without question with the crowd. To ask no -questions. To go without question. To pass among men and women for one -who loves. Throwing off all veils. Going without disguises. Without -disguises of virtue as well as disguises of clothes. To meet their -suspicion with faith. Not to be turned against men by the injustice of -men. Here I stand. No man triumphs in being loved. We only triumph in -loving. Nor in being believed in. We only triumph in believing. And if I -acquiesce in men and women I will acquiesce in them even in the face of -truth. I will say yes when you accuse them but I will continue to love -them. I will not deny the facts. But I will live above the facts. I will -not say there is no dirt. But I will say there is more than dirt. I do -not need figures for my affirmation. I only need men and women. Clean -and corrupt men and women. Strong and frail men and women. I know all -that is said about the evasions of human nature. And I acknowledge the -defaults of human nature. It makes its fathomless descents. But I see no -fall from which it cant lift itself victoriously. I am not afraid of the -impenetrable nights. For there was daylight before and there will be -daylight again and the darkness itself is created by a sunbeam. When I -look at a man and a woman I see what is back of them and I see what is -ahead. I am not thrown off the scent of glory by the trail of a serpent. -I am not worried by the treacheries of the flesh. I do not spend time -trying to disprove the shadows. I only insist upon the light. I am -always aware of the crowd. I am aware of one only because I am aware of -all. I always come back to myself enriched. If I feel out of touch with -myself I get in touch with the crowd. That keys me right again. The -harmonies are restored. The men and women on the streets. They do not -even look at me. Yet I am full of them and they are full of me. They are -not aunts and uncles and cousins and fathers and mothers. They are the -godstuff out of which the death and resurrection of the stars is -effected. They are unmakers and makers. They are the divined and they -are diviners. If I know men and women I do not need gods. If I know gods -I do need men and women. I say to every man or woman I pass: You are my -other self. For I know that nothing could tear us apart. I know that you -can no more separate men from each other, or women, or women from men, -than you can take an atom off the crust of the earth and toss it into -nothingness. And so I love to go among men and women. Love to throw -myself upon the convincing mercies of my anonymous pilgrimage. Choosing -not to figure up my totals in so many enemies and so many friends but in -so many brothers. In the last calculations refusing to calculate. -Casting myself into the sea and taking my chances. Into the seething -whirling surging reluctant hospitable mass. Preferring sin with all than -virtue alone. Not always being pleased but always being loyal. Sure in -the end that I could go nowhere ruling others out of heaven. Sure in the -end that I am entitled to nothing which the crowd does not confer. So -that when I meet you whoever you are I take off my hat to you. Loving -you is a way I have of thanking myself that you exist. Trusting you is a -way I have of congratulating myself upon your inheritance. For we are -joint heirs, all of us, or there is no heir. And we are joint villains -or there is no villain. And joint saviors and gods or there are no -saviors and gods. All of us. Men and women. All of us. Though we dont -see each other, joint for saved or damned anyway. I am closer to -everybody than anybody thinks. And everybody is closer to me. And though -we may appear to be nonchalant and unconcerned about each other the bond -is still unseverable. There is nothing anyone can do to cut him off from -me. And nothing I can do to rid the crowd of its responsibility. I look -curiously at you as you pass. You are not beautiful or ugly to me. You -are not rich or poor or well-dressed or in rags. You are my brothers. -When I look into the faces of saints and scoundrels I see only men and -women. Always. Always. And when I look into the faces of men and women I -see only gods and their companion gods. Always. Always. - -When I look into the faces of men and women. When I see what they might -do and dont do. When I see their hypocrisies and degeneracies. When I -see how far down they go after what is not worth going for at all. When -I see that they walk in darkness when they could as easily walk in -light. When I see their brutal warfares and their corrupting commerces -and their wit-proud arts. Then I wonder. Then my wonder is multiplied by -wonder and is dismayed. Then things crowd and choke my spirit. Then I -see what the despairers mean when they say man is not worth his flesh. -Then I am like someone thrown into a threatening sea. Then I cry for -help. The stars pale and disappear. The compass no longer points north. -Love becomes only another word for hate. Working seems as useless as -loafing. When I see the crowd robbed and awed by the few. When I see the -few robbed and awed by the crowd. When I see nothing fitting with -nothing the world over. Trade not fitting with justice. Art not fitting -with life. No one man fitting with another man. No man fitting with the -crowd and the crowd fitting with no man. Your to-day and my to-day not -fitting with our yesterdays or our to-morrows. This life not fitting -with any life that has been or is to be. Children not fitting with -parents and parents not fitting with children. Bodies not fitting with -souls and souls not fitting with bodies. What we do not fitting with -what we wish to do. Ambition not fitting with performance. Lovers not -fitting with loving. Wives not fitting with husbands. Everywhere, -everywhere, the inglorious travesty. Our religions not fitting with the -gods. Our states not fitting with the people. The mortal moment not -fitting with immortal time. Things, souls, tendencies, distraught. When -I see that I too withdraw and make less of life. I too retire from my -proud boast. I too humble myself before the shaming fact. I too confess -my sins. I too charge a big bill up against my ardent faith. I too feel -myself enclosed by falsifying conclusions. I too measure myself and -weigh myself by what is trivial and puny. I too walk around less sure of -myself. Yes, less sure of you. Less sure of all. Less sure of my dreams. -Less sure of the very feet I walk on and the very wings by which I soar. -Less sure of the picture you paint. Less sure of the song you sing. Less -sure of my own passionate words of encouragement and revelation. Less -sure. Less sure. Not giving up the great hope. But less sure. Not giving -up the food I eat but less sure that it feeds me. Not giving up my -certainties but less sure that they are certain. Not breaking finally -with you O love but less sure that even you O love are quite so potent -as I have thought. Not turning my back on my darling comrades the crowd -but not as sure as I have been that my smiling face conveys any message -to them. When I see that men cant live with each other without hate. -That they cant trade with each other without robbery. That they cant -grow big with power without growing little with pride. That they are not -satisfied with self rule. That they must rule each other. When I see -that men would rather be prosperous and have all poor than be poor and -have all prosperous. Then I am lost. Then I am lost. I do not know my -way. The sun goes out. My heart goes out. All the beautiful results I -was so confident of go out. Love goes out. O, love goes out. Holy final -love: it, too, goes out. Goes out like an unreturning tide. I am left -alone. Left trying to touch something I can hold on to. Something left -of all the wreckage which I can hold on to. Some remnant of joy. Some -glint of vision. Some splinter. Some saving strand. Reaching for some -hand to lift me above the whirling maddened departing stream. When I see -man going back on man. When I see goods and incomes and rulership going -back on man it means nothing to me. But when I see man going back on man -it means all to me. Then I am prostrate. Then my voice is stopped. I can -say nothing. I drift. God knows where to. I drift. It dont seem as if -anything was left to do. As if the fight was worth keeping up. As if -being loyal was more important than being traitorous. When man goes back -on man. I who was so unshakably sure. I who now am shaken. When man goes -back on man. - -When I look into the faces of men and women. After the eclipses and the -disfigurements. After the enmities and the degradations. After going -into all the hells. After making all the admissions. After being swept -away in the rages of the tyrant passions. Then suddenly the shining sun -breaks through. Then suddenly the earth is flooded with light. Then I am -restored. I who was cast down am lifted up. I who wondered so much over -the weakness of men and women wonder now over the irresistible strength -of men and women. Then things are explained. Then evil is explained in -the good. Hate is explained in love. That which men and women did not do -is explained in what they are capable of doing. Grief is explained in -rapture. The greeds are explained in generosity. For I see at last that -a man and a woman are not explained in what they do but in what they -lead to. What a man and woman do is too often ghastly. But somehow what -they lead to is always beautiful. I had looked into the faces of men and -women and it was night there. Now the sun is up. Now the faces are -radiant. I know that when a man and a woman rob or hate night is there. -And I know that when they serve and love the day has come. And I know -that a man and a woman containing love and justice will someway through -whatever contagions of animosity and crime become loving and just. I go -about in this midday of the spirit. In the streets. Everywhere. Where -men and women are. And I see men and women as they do not see -themselves. I tell them things they do not tell themselves. I lift them -up to planes to which they do not lift themselves. For the sun is up in -my world. And when the sun is up in the world the world is flushed with -insight. When the sun is up in your world you too will know. But until -then you will doubt or deny. When the sun is up in the world there is -light enough to go round. Light enough to account for all the darkness. -Good enough to account for all the evil. Sweet enough to account for all -the sour. Life enough to account for all the death. Now the sun is up in -my world. And as you pass before me, as I loaf about among you, -unrecognized, you men and women, you are as plain to me as my own thumb. -I dont need to argue with myself about you. For there's infinite light -in my world. Light to penetrate you through and through. Light to -challenge all hideousness and to disperse all contaminations. If I did -not think better of you, men and women, than you do of yourselves, I -would give you up, O men and women. But my world accounts for you. -Accounts for the beast in you by the man in you. Accounts for your moral -surrenders by your spiritual victories. If my world did not light you -enough to light you to justice and joy then my light might as well be -darkness. If it did not light the crowd enough to light it to the man or -light the man enough to light him to the crowd it might as well be -darkness. If it did not light the effaced scholars enough to light them -to life again it might as well be darkness. If it did not throw itself -full into your faces, O men and women, and disclose you to yourselves, -and disclose love to itself, and disclose the vast peoples to -themselves, and disclose all the mistakes to themselves, and disclose -all the dividing creeds and industries to themselves: oh! if my light -did not disclose everything to itself so that it might light everything -farther to its ineffable consequence, then it might as well be darkness. -O, it might as well be darkness. But my light is competent. It is enough -for everywhere and enough for all. It lights everything to itself. It -lights the man to the woman and the woman to the man and the few to many -and many to all and all to the one again. My light might as well be -darkness if it fails to light everything to itself and all to everything -in the storm and calm of its masterful plenty. When I look into the -faces of men and women. - - - - - Do you know what it means to say love? to be always and only - saying love every day every where? - - You think it's easy to say love but hard to say hate: I say no: - love is hardest of all to say: - - For sometimes you must say love with a knife: sometimes with the - cruelest word you know: - - Saying love is not saying soft things sweetly to make your lover - comfortable: far from that: - - Saying love is often to say things that cut and rend: things that - may even destroy: do you hear? - - - - - LOVING IS THE ONLY LIFE - - -Loving is the only life. Living must give us time for life. It is not -enough to fill your lungs with air. You must fill your lungs with life. -The heart must not only beat. It must beat the dance of life. It is not -important to live so many years. It is important to live so much life. -You have dollars. But have you life? You write something. People admire -you. You are famous for some reason or other. That is all very great. -But there is something beyond. Life is beyond. Eating and sleeping is -not life. Love alone is life. You are brilliant. You perform in the -center of the stage. But that is not life. Lending money at percents. -Making profits. Getting a house full of decorations. That is not life. A -man may have all that and more and be stone dead. I pass you on the -street. You look empty. You are hungry. You ache and strain for -something. What is it you yet need? You who have so much. You who seem -to have all the world. You to whose door all ships seem to sail and into -whose treasury all cargoes seem to be unloaded. You cast upon me such a -vacant look. You have not found out that your wealth is not life. You -have not consciously said that to yourself. But your body has found it -out. Your soul has found it out. You have power. You can draw a big -check. You are admitted anywhere. You are welcome to interrupt the world -at its devotions. Nobody would think of closing you out. The state, the -church, open when you appear, before you say a word. Yet you cast that -empty look upon me when we pass. That telltale look. That look that -means more than your riches. That look of infinite self pity. You have -the key to all locks. But you are helpless before that which having no -lock needs no key. You are alive. But you do not possess life. You are -your own master. But that is not enough. There is something beyond. -After being your own master you must know how to become your own slave. -You can live in the senses. In the gratification of the passions. In the -accumulation of temporal properties. But living is not life. So many in -so many generations have been fooled. They have got what they reached -for. But they have found that what they reached for was not what they -desired. When a man is greedy. When he seems willing to do anything to -get goods. Then life seems to say to him: Here's what you want: now what -are you going to do with it? You are filled to the brim. What are you -going to do with it? You run over with success. What are you going to do -with it? You are known everywhere you go. The instant your name is -mentioned everybody knows who you are. What are you going to do with it? -This is living. But this is not life. You are a conqueror. You are a -maker of laws. You rule people. What you say goes. Those who hate fear -you. Those who love despise you. You are an arrogant force upon whose -will for fair or foul the formal living of the world depends. You have -reached deepest into the dirt. You have reached highest into the blue -ether. Yet you look at me as if you who seem to have all after all have -nothing. You have not discovered that living is not life. You have not -seen that far. But you have discovered that something is the matter with -you. That something is the matter with the crown you wear. That a diadem -does not make a king. That living does not make life. That sometimes the -more a man contains the less he contains. That somehow one dream is -worth a thousand facts. That one cipher is worth more than a thousand -figures one. A man may find that out too late. He often leaves it to his -children to find it out for him. And a race often finds it out too late. -A dazzling generation of strutters and pirates finds it out too late. It -often leaves it to posterity to find it out. That's where you are and I -am to-day. We have done wonders. But we have not done enough. We have -still to find ourselves out. We have done wonders. You and I. Our -countries. Your country. Germany, England, Canada, America. Our -countries. Any countries. They have still to find themselves out. To -find out that living is not life. To find out that the church and the -state are not life. That priesthoods and plutocracies are not life. That -love alone is life. That love which means brotherhood all around and -justice going with it all around. That that love alone is life. That is -why our civilization bulging at the belt is still so empty. That is why -our governments bragging so vastly about their omnipotence are still so -helpless that they can only maintain themselves with armies and navies. -Like our systems. Which can only maintain themselves by robbery. They -have found much. But they have not found out themselves. They know how -to live. But they have not found life. For life is only found with love. -The way of life is the way of love. Not the way of living but the way of -life. Not the way of living, which is bound to come to an end, but the -way of life, which is necessarily interminable. That way of life which -is the way of love. - -Loving is the only life. But we are warned. Too much love may mean too -little life. Putting love in place of power may be like putting disease -in place of health. Love. But dont love too much. Put a little love into -trade. But keep lots of cruelty there to balance it. Be decent. But dont -be too decent. Always keep some villainy in reserve. Dont rob too much. -But still rob enough to keep the world indignant. If we had no victims -we would have nobody to get mad at the victors. If we had no bad the -good would be too easy. If a man was not obliged to fight for his life -his death would be painless. There must be some poison in every dish. -There must be some alloy in every deed. If we all loved hate would -possess us. We need hate to keep love straight. We need treason to -balance loyalty. You must be very careful so as not to be too -considerate. You must spice your generosity. Put some greed into it. -Make the smooth rough. Add some bitter to the sweet. A world of love -would lack contrast. Would be without color. We need the persecutor. Men -would go soft without the tyrant. The bully will qualify the man. So you -need not be so conscience stricken when you have done some mean thing. -But for that mean thing the stars might fall out of their places. Think -of it. Your arm is omnipotence. Your crime is salvation. You starve the -widow and the orphan. Too much love would make love itself monotonous. -Therefore, corner wheat. Therefore, collect your rents. Therefore, live -on money someone else has to work for. Therefore, rejoice in the -purchased judgments of courts. Therefore, shine. No matter whom you -obscure, shine. Get what you can in any way you can get it. We could not -live in a heaven. Mix some hell with every heaven. Heaven is saved by -the hell in it. Does the idea of love make you shudder? I am accused of -an iniquity. My love notion is a fallacy. It will take all the flush out -of the cheeks of the world. It will leave us without a cause. When a man -achieves love that is the end of him. There is no beyond. So with the -social body. When it has achieved love it is dead. There is nothing to -continue with. Motive is killed. Impetus is gone. After we have -accomplished love we have no reason for being. All having been done -there is nothing to do. The perfect state will have to react towards -imperfection. Love must pray to be saved from love. They say to me: You -are dragging your earth the way of death. I am charged with preaching -love at the expense of life. Life could not stand love. It would break -down under the strain. It would cease, vanish, lapse away. Love requires -its foil. My world, my love's paradise, my fool eden, without its adams -and eves and apples and temptations, would blast all harvests and reduce -the fertilities of contrast to desert sand. They say to me: Keep your -hands off. Let the wrongs alone. Let the people suffer. Let the shadows -thicken. I say: Loving is the only life. But you object. Institutions -object. The church objects. The state. The piracies. They all object. -They say: Loving is the only death. Love and you will live. That is what -I have said. Love and you will die. That is what you have said. What you -say. Love will produce a race of weaklings. Lovers cant fight. Lovers -cant resist. Lovers cant say no. Lovers can only surrender. Therefore, -your percents are the guarantee of life. Therefore, your injustices are -what save society from disintegration. Hating is the spice of life. I -have said: Rather go without life than go without love. You say: Love is -only the fringe of the garment: we must have life. That is, we must have -life no matter what becomes of love. I say: We must have love whatever -becomes of life. You dissent. Love only leads life into a pit. Love will -not do for every day. It must have its seasons. It must be reserved for -special occasions. A little love will keep. Much love will destroy. That -is why our systems are built on cruelties. Their barbarisms are -preservative. Rein your love in. Love will take all the virility out of -the social order. If you are a lover, go slow. If you wish the race -well, take a second guess. It may be wiser to wish it ill. You say: -Every thing must be done to preserve the race. I say: Only one kind of a -race is worth preserving. I hear it said that a race of lovers is as -dangerous as a race of haters. I say: There is a love beyond both love -and hate. - -Loving is the only life. Love closes no doors. It throws everything wide -open. Houses and hearts. We go from love to more love. To say love is to -say no more than that things get along together. To look at the stars -and say love is only to say that the stars obey the law of life. To look -at the body of a woman as a man and say love is only to say that the -flesh obeys the law of life. To look at a dream. To write a poem. To -make a shoe. To build a bridge. To walk out in the fresh air. To defy -tyrants. To do such things and to say love is only to say that whatever -we do we obey the law of life. This does not mean always giving up. It -means never giving up. It does not mean making concessions. It means -demanding concessions. Love is not less rigorous. Love is more rigorous. -Love does not stop half way up. It goes to the top. And it finds that -every top has another top. And so love never is satisfied with what it -has done. It always finds something else to do. To look at the bud and -say love is only to prophecy the flower. To look at the wave and say -love is only to call attention to the sea. To laugh in cloudy weather -and say love is only another verification of the sun. To face the people -who think they are your enemies and say love is only to make it plainer -that you can't be stirred from the truth. To look at life and say love -is to establish immortality. To look at what is hidden or doubtful and -say love is only to open the eyes of the blind. To look at profits and -say love is only to lead the way to the commune. How can we escape love? -Love is the only life. To bask in the daylight and say love is only to -lead to the sun. You look at men. You say men are your brothers. Is that -as if we said: Now let us all melt away in each other? To say brother is -only to say law. To say brother is only to say that we have discovered a -consequence as well as a cause. To say that love will leave nothing to -be done is as if one said the loyalty of a planet to its orbit leaves -nothing to be done. Love is not an end. It is only a beginning. We begin -to live when we begin to love. And as long as we continue to love we -will continue to begin. Love is not the violation of law. It is the -observance of law. Life derives its joint and sinew from love. Love is -getting along together. Whether between earths or people, getting along -together. Why should getting along together be worse than getting along -apart? Why should we suspect that worlds that are loyal to their -foundations are less likely to resist the northwind than worlds that are -built upon quicksands? To say no love is to say no life. For being alive -is not life. Simply going about your business, simply making money, -simply eating and drinking, even if you are a whole animal, is not life. -To hold back love supposing it may go too far is like holding back life -supposing there may be too much life. We will achieve all that love may -see. Then love will see more. We will go with love to complete love. -Then we will go farther. Eternally farther. As with life. Living life -into the remotest distances only to recognize unceasing farther -obligations. There will always be more to do than ever has been done. -There will always be more life coming than ever has arrived. There will -always be more love needed than ever can be expressed. To fear that love -may love too much is to fear that life may live too much. Love is the -law of life. To fear love is to fear life. Loving is the only life -because living together is the only life. Because being together is -inevitable. Oceans and hills and people: being together. Rain and the -seed and the soil: being together. Black and white and red: being -together. A man, a woman, child: being together. Love is being together. -The lake, the house on the shore, the hermit: being together. Yesterday, -to-day, to-morrow: being together. Love gets the obstructions out of the -way of life. Gives living time for life. Gets the wars out of the way. -Gets the poverties and the properties out of the way. Gives the harvest -a chance to mature. Makes the ascent possible. Clears the way for the -pauseless procession. For all forever. Loving is the only life. - - - - - I am just a feeler sent out ahead maybe to try the earth for new - days: - - I am just a leaf of grass sent up early through the soil to see - if the others could live if they followed: - - I am just a man who sticks his head out at the front door to see - for the folks how cold the night is: - - I am just a migrate due from the south when the spring breaks: - - I am just a light thrown on a puzzling pathway to give the rest a - chance to travel without stumbling too often: - - I am just that: given a little room, a narrow margin, in which to - play this simple part: - - Willing, when called, when my term is spent, to have my credit - cancelled: - - I, who, borrowing myself, signing for myself, cheerfully pay my - note: - - Why shouldn't I give all back, and more? - - - - - KEEP YOUR FACE TO THE SUN - - -Keep your face to the sun. As the day goes down let your cheer go up. -The reminiscence of the light will last through the darkness. Do not -lean upon what you absorb. Depend upon what you bestow. Meet the -sufficient noonglare with a haughtier illumination. Do not reject -sorrow. Do not shut your door in its face. Invite it in. Make it feel at -home. The heart in which sorrow is an alien misses its most sacred -tenant. You will not make sorrow the master of the house. But you will -include sorrow among your guests. The purport of the house is joy. The -purport of the house is health. The earth may pass into a cloud. But the -purport of the earth is not the cloud. Things go wrong. But the purport -of things is right. You see injustices. You see victims. You see -shipwrecks. But the purport of experience is righteousness, deliverance, -salvation. No matter which way I look I keep the sun in my face. Just as -though looking into hell I keep heaven in my face. Just as though -looking at cruelty I keep kindness in my face. Just as though looking at -the struggle I keep the victory in my face. I am haunted with presences -which arm me with peace. There is evil. We cant explain it. But there is -good, too. And we cant explain good. I do not wait for the universe to -explain itself. For love to argue its case. Maybe the universe cant be -explained. Maybe love cant be argued about. Why should I put question -marks into the sky in place of stars? It is my main business to live. To -live nearest the best life I can discover. To live nearest the natural -laws. To live nearest people. Not to ask for preferences. Not to expect -odds. To live. To spread power. To confer exhilaration. To let the sun -shine out of my face. For enough reasons or for no reason at all to let -the sun shine. Taking the sun for granted. Taking the best for granted -even in the face of the worst. Not being afraid that when the clock runs -down it can never be started again. Expecting surpluses but being -satisfied with shortages. Taking fame if it comes and humbling myself -with it. Not reaching out for honors which do not belong to me. Letting -the honors go or stay. Keeping sacred counsel with my own soul. Letting -the returns take care of themselves. Shedding the light. Not sneaking -about the earth as if life had to be hid away or enjoyed in the dark. -Not snarling at men as if they had to be barked into kennels. Not going -among men with discounts. Going among men with premiums. Adding a little -to everything I come near to or look at. A little more love. A little -more justice. A little more loyalty. A little more resolution. I have no -logic for my joy. But I have joy for it. Or for my affection for you. -But I have you for it. Or for my devotion to the great cause. But I have -the great cause for it. I can cite no justifications. But I can cite my -comrades. I cite myself. I cite you. I cite the books I read. I cite the -struggle against money. They are enough. They are sun enough for me. -They explain enough. Love explains enough though it dont explain at all. -The cause explains enough though it dont explain at all. And the -abounding light: it too explains enough. The vast interstreaming dazzle -of noontime: it explains nothing but it explains enough. I who question -so much am silent. I who doubt so much accept. I who love so much do not -ask for pay. Keep your face to the sun. A greater sun may shine in your -face. - -Keep your face to the sun. No matter what comes between keep your face -to the sun. When your salary comes between. When the contempt of your -enemies and the fear of your friends come between. When ruin comes -between. No matter what may come between. Keep your face to the sun. You -will be driven and warned. You will be despised and tempted. You will be -misunderstood. You will be summoned into courts of public prejudice. You -will be asked the questions of reaction and disease. But you will keep -your face to the sun. Though the sun goes in behind a cloud will keep -your face to the sun. Though the sun fails to get into your picture will -keep your picture to the sun. When you take an office and the office is -between. When you have ambitions that come between. When cowardice comes -between. When praise comes between. When even the love of your dearest -comrade comes between. You will keep your face to the sun. I do not -promise you fruit without the seed of the fruit. You will plant. And -much that you plant may come to nothing in the ground. Though it may -come to much in your heart. You will pour out property. Give the last -cent. Go stripped, utterly shorn, into the contest. But you will keep -your face to the sun. Yes: you will despair. You will say you dont see -why you should keep up the fight. You will want to sell your birthright. -You will grudge men success. You will travel where no eye can chart the -way. You will taste the bitterest defeat. You will be jealous and cruel. -Your brute self will stand between you and the sun. Yet you will always -stand with your face to the sun. I do not suppose anything malign comes -to any man which may not just as well come to you. That no -disappointment can come. That no tragedy can come. That you too may lose -fortunes. May lose more than fortunes. May lose hope. May lose relation -with the cosmos. That you too may be cut adrift from the crowd. May be -crushed by the law. May have your trust violated. May be deceived. May -read the promises of faith backward. May challenge justice. May go in -for the abolition of brotherhood. May fool the prophets. Things do go -wrong in life though life itself never goes wrong. Events do conspire -against the plans of men. But they do not conspire against men. We have -to take all into account. All the momentary repulses. We often ride a -very roundabout course to victory. A course through disappointment. A -course through direct losses. A course over bad roads. Encountering the -devious motives of our companions. Do you keep your face to the sun? No -matter which way you go you may keep your face to the sun. East or west -or north or south or up or down or across it is all the same. You may -keep your face to the sun. Your face shining with a light all its own. -Your face baffling all rivalries of solar glory. You who ride to death -may ride to life. You may turn your back to the sun. But the sun never -turns its back to you. You may turn your back to the soul. The soul -never turns its back to you. You may scorn the sentiment of man. You may -make light of the romance of lovers. You may look with disdain upon the -ignorant and the stupid. You may take care of yourself at the expense of -others. You may postpone or destroy the impulse to give. Your life may -be a life of seizure and appropriation. May ride shod rough over the -crowd. May accept every advantage of position. Every advantage of -culture. Not acquiescing in the general liberties. Flourishing your -gifts like clubs. Demanding awe and worship. Quoting your money or your -genius as evidence of your superiority. Standing aside when the people -invite you to serve. Pulling back when the people try to go on. Being -satisfied with your surplus when the people have too little to eat and -too little to wear. This may be your burden. This may be your bloodred -sin. This may be your rack. You may shrink from the sun. Your face may -turn the other way. May prefer the darkness of possession to the light -of atonement. Your eyes may be weak. May not be able to stand the -sunbeams. May take no sun in and have no sun to give out. Your eyes may -endure tyranny but not endure freedom. May endure seeing labor suffer -but not endure seeing labor enfranchised. May endure their inheritance -but not endure their vista. This is the tragedy of the pilgrim. He -passes across the earth. The path is often dark and uncertain. Often he -has to feel, because he cannot see, his way through. Then he is driven -back upon his conclusions. What are his conclusions? Conclusions of -triumph or conclusions of disaster? Conclusions for one or conclusions -for all? Conclusions of property or conclusions of the soul? In the -eclipse of reason all depends upon the conclusions. In the disappearance -of all you have seen all depends upon the appearance of what you have -not seen. What are your conclusions? When all resource gives out. When -the road seems to end. When faculty and vision have lost the impulse of -appeal. Then all depends upon the conclusion. The conclusion to abandon -all gobetweens and trust yourself to the soul. The conclusion to refuse -all preferments and trust yourself to the people. The conclusion to face -the sun even if it blind you. The conclusion to meet sun with sun. The -splendid sun sufficing for the love of the body with the sun more -splendid sufficing for the love of the spirit. - -Keep your face to the sun. I love you, O sun. But I too am a sun. -Sometimes I think I light you: that you dont light me. That I each day -rekindle your expiring fires. That if I did not come up in the morning -you would not come up. That you do not appear at the horizon greeting -the world. That I appear. That you do not cross the heavens glorifying -your unrivalled passage and sanctifying your retrospect with the -matchless twilight. That I cross the heavens. That all the majesty and -the wonder inheres to me. That I do not depend upon you. That you depend -upon me. That Persia did not worship you. That Persia worshipped me. -That after all you are only the form while I am the substance. That you -might be blotted out. That no harm would come to man. But that if I was -blotted out the fate of man would be sealed in annihilation. That I have -ejected you from the heavens and assumed your place. That you no longer -rule, godstrong on a celestial throne. That I rule, man-potent in the -hum of the common street. That the farms and the orchards do not look to -you for fructification. That they look to me. That all harvests are my -harvests. Harvests of fields as well as harvests of hearts. Harvests of -justice as well as harvests of things. Harvests of ideals as well as -harvests of deeds. That the supreme life is not there with you in the -orbits of the heavens. That they are here with me in the twists and -turns of alleys and pikes. I see now O sun that it is important to be a -sun but that it is more important to be a man. That it is right to shine -like a sun but that it is more than right to shine like a lover. That -everything whatever seen or unseen is great and awes me. But that there -is something neither seen nor unseen that stirs me to mightier results. -That it is no mistake to make much of your genial flame: that you give -life without question and cannot be denied your pay. That it is still -less a mistake to make more of my precedent endowments: that they give -ampler life without question and cannot be denied their pay. The pay of -the sun is the pay of the crops. Is the pay of houses. Is the pay of -dividends. Is the pay of profit and loss. The pay of my dreams is the -pay of love. Is the pay of men and women and children. Is the pay of -immortality. I too O sun get down on my knees to you. I too O sun stand -erect honoring you. I too O sun gather with the crowds acknowledging -your first causes. I too O sun let no rival shame my tribute. I too O -sun call you God. And you, O sun, do you realizing yourself admit me? -You too O sun: do you get down on your knees honoring me? Do you O sun -gathering with the stars and the wheat and the factories acknowledge my -first causes? Do you O sun bringing tribute do as much for me as any -other and more? Do you O sun call me God? I have said of you O sun: you -feed my body. Do you say of me O sun: you feed my soul? I have said to -my darling comrades the lands and seas over gasping for life: Keep your -face to the sun. I have said to them: No matter what happens, no matter -for barbarism and murder, no matter for robbery and starvation, no -matter for yawning perditions, keep your face to the sun. And I say to -you O sun subtracting no atom from the sum of your illimitability: Keep -your face to me. Comrades: Come: assemble yourselves about me. The first -word shall be the last word and the last word the first word again: Keep -your face to the sun. - - - POETRY - - A MAGAZINE OF VERSE - - Edited by Harriet Monroe, 543 Cass St., Chicago, Ill. - - POETRY, at the end of its first year, is no longer an experiment - but an assured artistic success, a publication whose importance - is authoritatively recognized, not only in this country, but in - Great Britain and France as well. The field it has opened up is - full of brilliant possibilities, encouraging the editors to hope - for the enthusiastic support of a discriminating public. - - POETRY endeavors to present the best verse now being written in - English, quality alone being the test of acceptance. - - POETRY is an effort to create an organ for the art. While the - ordinary magazines must minister to a large public little - interested in poetry, this magazine appeals to and will develop a - public primarily interested in poetry as an art, potentially the - highest, most complete human expression of truth and beauty. Thus - it offers to poets a chance to be heard by their own audience, in - their own place, without the limitations imposed by the popular - magazines. And to lovers of poetry it offers each month a sheaf - of new verse in delicate form uninterrupted by prose articles - demanding a different mood. - - If You Love Good Poetry, Subscribe-- - - POETRY - 543 Cass Street, Chicago. - - Send POETRY for one year ($1.50 enclosed) beginning - - ............................. to - - Name ........................... - - Address ........................ - - - CHANTS COMMUNAL - - By HORACE TRAUBEL - - Boards, $1.00 net. Paper, 30 cents postpaid. - - Inspirational prose pieces fired by revolutionary idealism and - prophetically subtle in their vision. The high esteem in which - Traubel's work is held is attested by the following unusual - commendations: - - Mildred Bain: "In 'Chants Communal' we have some of the most - magnificent poetry which has ever accompanied a historic movement - of thought. These songs may well be termed scriptural. They are - the very heart beat of humanity. Such powerful exhortations, such - fiercely tender pleadings are in them. They are religious in the - deepest, broadest sense. Every one of them is a call to the - higher self in man; is instinct with the consciousness of the - sacredness of life in its human every-day aspects." - - Jack London: "His is the vision of the poet and the voice of the - poet." - - Eugene V. 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Herron: "It is a book of the highest value and beauty - that Horace Traubel proposes to give us, and I can only hope that - it will be read as widely and appreciatively as it more than - deserves to be; for it is with a joy that would seem extravagant, - if I expressed it, that I welcome 'Chants Communal.'" - - ALBERT AND CHARLES BONI - 96 FIFTH AVENUE - - - - NEW YORK - - - THE INTERNATIONAL - - A magazine for matured minds. - - A magazine for those who dare to think. - - A magazine for all true cosmopolites. - - A magazine with a courage so fearless that it publishes the best. - - Brieux, Schnitzler, Strindberg are only a few of the advanced - thinkers who have appeared in the pages of THE INTERNATIONAL. - - We have been in the vanguard of intellectual freedom. - - We shall always be far ahead of our times. - - You may glimpse the future by reading THE INTERNATIONAL. - - George Sylvester Viereck, Editor. - Leonard D. 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An Anthology 50c. - Erna Vitek. By Alfred Kreymborg All sold. - - Hereafter all single copies will be - 50 cents. - - The subscription price per year is - $3.00. - - - - - Transcriber's Notes - - -The original spelling was mostly preserved. A few obvious typographical -errors were silently corrected. All other changes are listed here -(before/after): - - [p. 54]: - ... Let's condole with the widows and childrens of ... - ... Let's condole with the widows and children of ... - - [p. 63]: - ... only a border on the earth or whether the earth ... - ... only a boarder on the earth or whether the earth ... - - [p. 76]: - ... You cant ride yourself of one without the other. ... - ... You cant rid yourself of one without the other. ... - - [p. 77]: - ... the moon as between people and pople. I make ... - ... the moon as between people and people. I make ... - - - - - - -End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Glebe 1914/04 (Vol. 2, No. 1): -Collects, by Horace L. 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