The Quest

I sought Him on the purple seas,

I sought Him on the peaks aflame;

Amid the gloom of giant

And canyons lone I called His name;

The wasted ways of earth I trod:

In vain!

In vain!

I found not God.

I sought Him in the hives of men,

The cities grand, the hamlets gray,

The temples old beyond my ken,

The tabernacles of to-day;

All life that is, from cloud to clodI sought. . . .

Alas!

I found not God.

Then after roamings far and wide,

In streets and seas and deserts wild,

I came to stand at last

The death-bed of my little child.

Lo! as I bent beneath the rodI raised my eyes . . . and there was God.