I went to learned men and asked the way.
The learned men were lost among their books;
They bade me stand aside, for such as they
For such as me had neither words nor looks.

I went to churches, where beyond my sight
Priests and their servants served great mystery;
Their waves of incense filled the arches' height,
Their waves of music swelled in harmony.
But I stood all alone: and he and he
Who led the great procession had no care for me.

I left their church, and sought the street instead,
To find a cripple crouched upon the ground.
I took him to my home and called for aid,
From palace and from hovel, all around.
His wounds we tended and his hunger fed,—
And lo! in love the life of heaven we found.