Yes! hopeful-trustful-onward ever,
Each helping each-all urging all;
The mighty stream, receding never;
The rippling flow-the waterfall.
Slow-swift, but irresistibly,
Rolls the grand tide of tendency!
There are who moor their heavy barge,
As fain to stop the river's course,
But there it rots upon the marge:
While with untired, majestic force,
As planets circling round the sun,
The confluent current hastens on.
Whither? we know not; but we know
The law of progress-better, best;
More thought, more truth, more beauty glow,
As in their varying race or rest
Our still advancing spirits move,
Towards wider spheres of light and love.