230 THE PORTAL OF EVOLUTION 



IMMORTALITY. 



Out of the spirit Infinite 



Life sprang like a fairy sprite 



To give to matter spirit free 



That man might at last eternal be. 



Not to live but one short span 



Starting where each life first began, 



But to live afresh in many forms 



As each new mortal shape adorns 



The soul which lives for evermore 



To live afresh as it had lived before, 



If it should go the way it had to go 



And learn its Maker's will to know. 



Love then to life and body came 



That man for others joys might aim, 



Thus making existence upward tend, 



Be like unto his Maker in the end. 



Love's precious gift that woman in heaven sought, 



Which by redemption to earth she brought, 



That she might purify man's thought, 



As self-sacrifice to him she taught. 



Hence if you would forever live, 



Ere you receive, first you must give 



Devotion and affection to your friend, 



Then happiness God to you will send, 



To those who make this golden rule 



Of every act the perfect tool; 



And cease not in the constant strife 



To shape all good deeds of their life, 



So that birth and death may ever add 



Good deeds abounding over bad, 



Of virtue as each life is run 



Shall make the total of the sum. 



So when at perfection they arrive, 



Their souls in heaven will ever thrive, 



Lustrous, with all the good acts done 



Since their past existence first begun. 



Better thus live, and learn to sin, 



Each day wisely, and thus to win 



Reward, because our race we nobly ran, 



Than end a single life where it began. 



