"I note each gracious purpose,
Each kindly word and deed;
Are ye not all my children?
Shall not the Father heed?
"No prayer for light and guidance
Is lost upon mine ear
The child's cry in the darkness
Shall not the Father hear?
"I loathe your wrangling councils,
I tread upon your creeds;
Who made ye mine avengers,
Or told ye of my needs;
"I bless men and ye curse them,
I love them and ye hate;
Ye bite and tear each other,
I suffer long and wait.
"Ye bow to ghastly symbols,
To cross and scourge and thorn;
Ye seek his Syrian manger
Who in the heart is born.
"For the dead Christ, not the living,
Ye watch His empty grave,
Whose life alone within you
Has power to bless and save.
"O blind ones, outward groping,
The idle quest forego;
Who listens to His inward voice
Alone of Him shall know.
"His love all love exceeding
The heart must needs recall,
Its self-surrendering freedom,
Its loss that gaineth all.
"Climb not the holy mountains,
Their eagles know not me;
Seek not the Blessed Islands,
I dwell not in the sea.
"Gone is the mount of Meru,
The triple gods are gone,
And, deaf to all the lama's prayers,
The Buddha slumbers on.