Queen Moo's Talisman: The Fall of the Maya Empire

								

But in the rugged paths that lead thereto
With turmoil finite being makes its way—
Tho’ none know why or whither, all obey.”


The clasping hand let fall the talisman
Placed centuries agone, by child of Can,
To serve as link with mortal heart in urn.
“Save me from self! I would no more return.”
The woman breathed. Then at her side appeared
A radiant form:—“As nothing should be feared
In all the vast infinity of Good,
The good is here; and if all mortals would
Aspire to truth and from ill thought refrain,
Each could his share of happiness attain.
No more for safety from thyself appeal,
Thine higher self doth now itself reveal;
Its voice obey, for thus thou wilt be free
To seek and find the joys awaiting thee.


The road thro’ many lives each one must tread,
And by experience be onward led.
Man’s creed saves not, but effort for the right;
Each his own savior is, thro’ valiant fight:
Endeavor, not success, makes his account.
Condole we may, but not reproach; all mount
The heights; tho’ some may tarry long behind;
The law of being, each to all doth bind.”


“Our blundering steps oft bring upon us woe;
To fail to strive entails a keener throe.
The hounded, luckless inmate of the jail
May greater effort make, without avail,
Than judge who sits upon the bench to give
Decree—if prisoner may or may not live.
For one, the right may be an easy way;
In vain the other struggles to obey
Himself, the spark divine that seeks to guide
Thro’ matter’s maze, and with him e’er will ’bide
Go where he may, in crime, in paths of pain;
Till step by step, the summit he shall gain.”


“The woes we feel; the failures we deplore;
Are only means to reach a fairer shore.
When body falls to dust and soul escapes,
The thoughts that grieved fade too, like phantom shapes.
No judge is there to measure out our doom,
Or thrust us into everlasting gloom.
Ourselves we may condemn if we have failed
To do our best. But man has oft bewailed
As sin some harmless deed, and cast no blame
On other acts that should bear stamp of shame.”


“This truth thou may’st enshrine within thy heart:
Of Life and Love Eternal we are part;
The Will Supreme is One, and lives in all;
This God, our holy self, can never fall.
WILL is the law; then will the right, for aye!
Right will is all that mortal need obey.”
Art bound to flesh?—thy spirit thus decreed;
This thou shalt realize again when freed.
Would’st thou repose? Resume the active way?
Thus shall it be: none may thy will gainsay.


OUR will divine ordains we do OUR best;
If we do this, the future must attest
That where we passed we made love’s tendrils twine
And hope’s soft beam from many an eye to shine.
Love may for some mean but a fond caress;
But tenderly to serve is to express