Onward Keep Poem by Ameen Rihani

Onward keep ! Forget the self that cried :
'This world's a forest choked with ice and
snow ;
No spark of fire through it can ever ride,
No human flame in it can ever glow.'
And keeping onward, now, I find
The golden leaves of yesterday
All safely hidden from the wind
Beneath the snow that melts away,
And on the shivering boughs
New leaves and tender sprout;
They crown the winter's brows,
And laugh away his doubt.
And in the brook
The echoes of
What I forsook —
What I did love.
And the frost
'Neath the breath
Of me must
Welcome death ;
And the heat
Left behind
Guides the feet
Of the blind.
Onward keep ;
Laugh and weep ;
Pain and joy
Hide and peep.
Rise and fall —
Fall and rise ;
This is all —
This is wise.