HIDE NOT THY HEART

This is my creed,

This is my deed:

"Hide not thy heart!"

Soon we depart;

Mortals are all;

A breath, then the pall;

A flash on the dark--

All's done--stiff and stark.

No time for a lie;

The truth, and then die.

Hide not thy heart!

Forth with thy thought!

Soon 'twill be naught,

And thou in thy tomb.

Now is air, now is room.

Down with false shame;

Reck not of fame;

Dread not man's spite;

Quench not thy light.

This be thy creed,

This be thy deed:

"Hide not thy heart!"

If God is, he made

Sunshine and shade,

Heaven and hell;

This we know well.

Dost thou believe?

Do not deceive;

Scorn not thy faith--

If 'tis a wraith

Soon it will fly.

Thou who must die,

Hide not thy heart!

This is my creed,

This be my deed:

Faith, or a doubt,

I shall speak out--

And hide not my heart.

--Richard Watson Gilder.