Poem by Robert William Service

The Quest

I sought Him on the purple seas,
I sought Him on the peaks aflame;
Amid the gloom of giant trees
And canyons lone I called His name;
The wasted ways of earth I trod:
In vain! In vain! I found not God.

I sought Him in the hives of men,
The cities grand, the hamlets gray,
The temples old beyond my ken,
The tabernacles of to-day;
All life that is, from cloud to clod
I sought... Alas! I found not God.

Then after roamings far and wide,
In streets and seas and deserts wild,
I came to stand at last beside
The death-bed of my little child.
Lo! as I bent beneath the rod
I raised my eyes... and there was God.

1. The March of the Dead
2. The Cremation of Sam Mcgee
3. The Rhyme of the Remittance Man
4. Comfort
5. The Atavist

Wystan Auden The Quest ("Out of it steps our future, through this door")

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