Page:The earth turns south (IA earthturnssouth00wood).pdf/144

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

GOD IN THE ROAD

And in the street-walker he has arrested, who shrinks beside him.Each face that we pass is the image of God—Now an emaciated remnant of features,A weak chin, a chubby infant's smile,Now hairy, now bald, now erect, now doubled with pain,Now keen-visioned, but oftener miserly and grasping,Now white, now a slant-eyed yellow-brown, now black-faced and thick-lipped.
I am glad to know God.I thought Him something different, all-powerful, cosmos-creating.Which of these furtive faces could even see a cosmos?I thought Him all-knowing, immortal;And vaguely He is all these.
But I shall not pray to God now,Nor raise a gaudy temple to Him;I shall help build Him a house to live in,And He shall help me with mine.

130

This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.