A Song Of Men

OUT of the soil and the slime, Reeking, they climb,

Out of the muck and the mire, Rank, they aspire;

Filthy with murder and mud, Black with shed blood,

Lust and passion and clay-- Dying, they slay;

Stirred by vague hints of a goal, Seeking a soul!

Groping through terror and night Up to the light:

Life in the dust and the clod Sensing a God;

Flushed of the glamor and gleam Caught from a dream;

Stained of the struggle and toil, Stained of the soil,

Ally of God in the end-- Helper and friend--

Hero and prophet and priest Out of the beast!