We know no god nor devil,
    We neither drive nor lead—
We come to banish evil
    In thought as well as deed.

And this our grandest mission,
    And this our purest worth;
To banish superstition,
    The blackest curse on earth.

We come to pass no sentence,
    For ours is not the power—
The coward’s vain repentance
    But wastes the waiting hour.

’Tis not for us to lengthen
    The years of wasted lives;
We come to help and strengthen
    The goodness that survives.

We promise nought hereafter,
    We cannot conquer pain,
But work, and rest, and laughter,
    Will soothe the tortured brain.

That which is lost, we cannot
    Restore to any one—
But Truth and Right must triumph,
    And Justice must be done!

We come in many guises;
    But every one is plain
To each pure thought that rises
    Again and yet again.

We are ourselves and human,
    And ours our destiny;
The souls of Man and Woman
    Divorced by Vanity.