Ella Wheeler Wilcox

He That Hath Ears

 ’He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the
 churches.’-St. John the Divine.

The Spirit says unto the churches,
   ’Ere ever the churches began
I lived in the centre of Being-
   The life of the Purpose and Plan;
I flowed from the mind of the Maker
      Through nature to man.

’I sleep in the glow of the jewel,
   I wake in the sap of the tree,
I stir in the beast of the forest,
   I reason in man, and am free
To turn on the path of Ascension
      To the god yet to be.

’I was, and I am, and I will be;
   I live in each church and each faith
But yield to no bond and no fetter,
   I animate all with my breath;
I speak through the voice of the living
      And I speak after death.’

The Spirit says unto the churches,
   ’The dead are not gone, they are near
And my voice, when I will it, speaks through them,
   Speaks through them in messages clear.
And he that hath ears, in the silence
      May listen and hear.’

The Spirit says unto the churches,
   ’So many the feet that have trod
The road leading up into knowledge,
   The steep narrow path has grown broad;
And the curtain held down by old dogmas
      Is lifted by God.’