Classic Poem

Where men on mounts of vision
Have passed the veil within,
Where hearts bowed in contrition
Have risen from their sin,
Where light on upturned faces
Earth's Calvaries has crowned,—
Here are her holy places,
This, consecrated ground.

Where life is nobly given
And man for man has died,
Where bonds of wrong are riven
And right is glorified,—
One faith the spirit traces,
Brightening from age to age;
These are earth's holy places
And shrines of pilgrimage.

Here, Lord, may thy revealing
In waiting hearts be known,
Here holier thought and feeling
The secret Presence own:
May prayer and aspiration,
In-shinings of thy grace,
And sorrow's consolation
Make this our holy place!

Still from the spirit's essence
All things new meaning win;
The temple of thy presence
Is ever, Lord, within.
May outward dedication
Have inward seal and sign,
The spirit's consecration
Make beautiful the shrine!