Sonnet (Be Earnest)

Be Earnest!—why shouldst thou for custom’s sake,
     Lay a cold hand upon thy heart’s warm pulse,
And crush those feelings back which, uttered, make
     Links in the chain of love? Why thus convulse
A soul that overflows with sympathy
For kindred souls, when thou art called to be
     The Heart’s Apostle, loving, pure and true?
The smooth hypocrisies, the polished lies,
The cold dead forms and hollow mockeries
     Current among the many, by the few
Who know their manhood, should be held in scorn!
     Speak freely thy free thought—and other souls
     To thine shall answer—as from living coals
Together kindled, light and heat are born!