Peoples, silence!

Whither do these children clothed in white tunics run? Joy lights up their hearts. This merry multitude is going to play in the green meadows, where they will make an ample harvest of flowers and pursue the brilliant insect that feeds within their calyxes. Carefree and happy, they perceive nothing beyond the blue horizon that surrounds them. Their fall will be terrible if you do not hasten to predispose their hearts to the Spiritist teachings. For the Spirits of the Lord have crossed the clouds and come to preach to you. Listen to their friendly voices; listen attentively. Peoples, silence!

II.

They have become big and strong. The masculine beauty of some, the grace and abandon of others revive in the hearts of the parents the sweet memories of a time now distant, but the smile that was about to bloom on their withered lips disappears to give place to somber preoccupations. It is that they too have drunk, in great draughts, from the enchanted cup of the illusions of youth, the subtle venom that weakened their blood, debilitated their strength and aged their faces, making them bald. For this reason, they would like to prevent their children from tasting the same poisoned cup. Brothers! Spiritism will be the antidote that must preserve the new generation from its mortal devastations. For the Spirits of the Lord have crossed the clouds and come to preach to you. Listen to their friendly voices; listen attentively. Peoples, silence! III.

They have attained virility; they have become men. They are serious and grave, but they are not happy; their hearts are wearied and have but one sensitive fiber: that of ambition. They employ all the strength and energy they have in the acquisition of earthly goods. For them there is no happiness without dignities, honors, fortune. Senseless ones! From one instant to another the angel of liberation will strike you down; you will be forced to abandon all your chimeras; you are exiles whom God may summon to the mother-fatherland at any moment. Do not build palaces or monuments; a tent, clothing and bread, behold what is necessary. Content yourselves with this and offer the superfluous to the brothers to whom everything is lacking: shelter, clothing and bread. Spiritism comes to tell you that the true treasures you must conquer are the love of God and of your neighbor. They will make you rich for eternity. For the Spirits of the Lord have crossed the clouds and come to preach to you. Listen to their friendly voices; listen attentively. Peoples, silence! IV.

Their brows incline at the edge of the sepulcher. They are afraid and would like to raise their heads; but time has bent their shoulders, hardened their nerves and muscles and they are powerless to look on high. Ah! how many anguishes come to assail them! They go over in the recesses of the soul their useless and often criminal life; remorse gnaws at them, like a famished vulture. It is that, frequently, in the course of that existence, spent in indifference, they denied their God, who, at the edge of the grave, appears to them as an inexorable avenger. Fear not, brothers, and pray. If, in his justice, God chastises you, he will show grace to your repentance, for Spiritism comes to tell you that the eternity of punishments does not exist and that you are reborn to purify yourselves and to expiate. Thus, you who are weary of exile on Earth, make every effort to better yourselves, so as no longer to return to it. For the Spirits of the Lord have crossed the clouds and come to preach to you. Listen to their friendly voices; listen attentively. Peoples, silence! Byron. n [1]

[v. Lord Byron.]