Classic Poem

I who have trod the green roofs of the earth
Searching for beauty in a gleam of lights
Still of this world; who stood on blinding heights
But looked not higher, seeing in death and birth
The ultimate of life; who, at a dart
Of starshine through the void, could frame anew
Heavens beyond the farthest deeps of blue,
Yet strained earth only closer to the heart,—

Weary, at last, pursuing my desire,
I thought to turn me from each worldly goal,
And with the assuaging of my thirst entire
To ask of Thee anointment for my soul.
But when I came and looked into Thy face
I read therein salvation for the race.