Page:Fugitive Poetry 1600-1878.djvu/143

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LIGHT FOR ALL.
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You gaze on the cathedral, Whose turrets meet the sky;Remember the foundations That in earth and darkness lie:For, were not those foundations So darkly resting there,You towers up could never soar So proudly in the air.
The workshop must be crowded That the palace may be bright:If the ploughman did not plough, Then the poet could not write.Then let every toil be hallowed That man performs for man,And have its share of honour As part of one great plan.
See light darts down from heaven, And enters where it may;The eyes of all earth's people Are cheered with one bright day;And let the mind's true sunshine Be spread o'er earth as free,And fill the souls of men As the waters fill the sea.
The man who turns the soil Need not have an earthly mind;The digger 'mid the coal Need not be in spirit blind:The mind can shed a light On each worthy labour done,As lowliest things are bright In the radiance of the sun.
What cheers the musing student, The poet, the divine,—The thought that for his followers A brighter day will shine.Let every human labourer Enjoy the vision bright—Let the thought that comes from heaven Be spread like heaven's own light!
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