On Finding Buddha's Dust

O ashes of Gautama, once the shrine And outer temple of celestial mind!— Home of a spirit, pure and heavenly kind, That moved by human sympathy benign, Out-poured itself, like sacrificial wine, To bring a light of hope unto the blind,— O ashes of Gautama! earth shall find Naught midst her buried treasure more divine!

Though, centuries gone by, an Emperor sealed In crystal and in bronze this royal dust, Time may uncover it through waste and rust; But while man's heart to aught shall homage give, Gautama's love, through sacrifice revealed, Eternal as that heart itself shall live!