Believe Not Those Who Say

Believe not those who say

The upward path is smooth,

Lest thou should stumble in the way,

And faint before the truth.

It is the only road

Unto the realms of joy;

But he who seeks that blest abode

Must all his powers employ.

To labour and to love,

To pardon and endure,

To lift thy heart to God above,

And keep thy conscience pure.

Be this thy constant aim,

Thy hope, thy chief delight,

What matter who should whisper blame

Or who should scorn or slight.

What matters—if God approve,

And if within thy breast,

Thou feel the comfort of His love,

The earnest of His rest?

~Anne Brontë