Thy highest priests should ministering throng

With silken robe, with gold and precious stones,

With solemn chant and loud triumphant song:

What beauty that the world could give would be

Too beautiful for Thee?

And yet to those that work with grimy hands

And sweaty brows in ditches and in drains,

Thou comest with a love that understands

Their labor ill-requitted, and their pains.

Who knows so well as Thou what they endure,