The New World

A new world did Columbus find?
Ah! 'tis not so that world is found;
God's golden harvest-sheaves who bind
Are tillers of another ground.

No new world like the old we need;
One thing suffices — one alone,
A garnered world-harvest from seed
The wounded Hands of Christ have sown.

No earthly Paradise avails,
No Eldorado in the West;
The Spirit's Breath must fill their sails
Who seek the Highlands of the Blest.

By stripes is healing wrought, and stars
Point ever to a central Sun;
He flies the conquering flag, whose scars,
Transfigured, speak of Victory won.

O Royal Heart, Thy Kingdom come!
All else may change; all else may go:
Not eastward, westward, is our Home,
But onward, upward: — even so!

One Sign alone is love-designed,
God's Evergreen, the Eternal Rood;
Happy the home-seekers who find
Its meaning plain — a world renewed!