Minot Judson Savage (1841–1918)

Ask not afar for beauty. Lo! It glows
In dew-wet grasses all about thy feet:
In birds, in sunshine, childish faces sweet,
In stars, and mountain summits topped with snows.

Dream not of noble service elsewhere wrought:
The simple duty that awaits thy hand
Is God’s voice uttering a divine command;
Life’s common deeds build all that saints have thought.

The paradise men seek, the city bright
That gleams beyond the stars for longing eyes,
Is only human goodness in the skies.
Earth’s deeds, well done, glow into heavenly light.

In wonder-workings, or some bush aflame,
Men look for God, and fancy him concealed.
But in earth’s common things he stands revealed;
While grass and flowers and stars spell out his name.