Hints from Lowly Things

The common things we daily use
     Yield finer use than meets the eye,
As windows of thy cot diffuse
     The glory of the opulent sky.

While some significance divine
     Gleams outward from its action true,
Thy broad-axe hews stricter line
     Than chalk and compass ever drew.

Thy ledgers, balanced by the law
     That rhymes our hearts and rounds the spheres, 
Are gospels of right, love, and awe, 
     Though but the rigid sum appears.

Our vines & richer vintage yield
     Than thoughtless tillers gather in;
Behold the lilies of the field, 
     They toil not, neither do they spin,

Yet Solomon in all his pride
     Was not arrayed like one of these;
A touch of soul has glorified
     The humblest life the teacher sees.

Through holy lips the brooding hen 
     Is dignified by solemn thought;
From out the block refused by men
     The temple's corner-stone is wrought.

While royal. vanity is shown
     How poor it is before the sod, 
And the untoiling lilies own
     The sleepless providence of God, —

Not wisely may our Lyrist scorn 
     The wisdom veiled in lowly things;
Poet and Prophet are twin-born,
     What one proclaims the other sings!