Slowly there grew a tender awe,
10Sunlike, o'er faces brown and hard.
As if in him who read they felt and saw
Some presence of the bard.
It was a sight for sin and wrong
And slavish tyranny to see,
15A sight to make our faith more pure and strong
In high humanity.
I thought, these men will carry hence
Promptings their former life above.
And something of a finer reverence
20For beauty, truth, and love,
God scatters love on every side,
Freely among his children all,
And always hearts are lying open wide,
Wherein some grains may fall.
25There is no wind but soweth seeds
Of a more true and open life,
Which burst unlocked for, into high-souled deeds,
With wayside beauty rife.
We find within these souls of ours
30Some wild germs of a higher birth,
Which in the poet's tropic heart bear flowers
Whose fragrance fills the earth.
Within the hearts of all men lie
These promises of wider bliss,
35Which blossom into hopes that cannot die,
In sunny hours like this.
All that hath been majestical
In life or death, since time began,
Is native in the simple heart of all,
40The angel heart of man.
And thus, among the untaught poor,
Great deeds and feelings find a home,
That cast in shadow all the golden lore
Of classic Greece and Rome.
45O, mighty brother-soul of man.
Where'er thou art, in low or high,
Thy skyey arches with, exulting span
O'er-roof infinity!