VESTIGIA by Bliss Carman,
(modified by an uppity woman)

I took a day to search for Goddess,

And found Her not. But as I trod

By rocky ledge, through woods untamed,

Just where one scarlet lily flamed,

I saw Her footprint in the sod.

Then suddenly, all unaware,

Far off in the deep shadows, where

A solitary hermit thrush

Sang through the holy twilight hush --

I heard Her voice upon the air.

And even as I marvelled how

Goddess gives us Heaven here and now,

In a stir of wind that hardly shook

The poplar tree beside the brook

Her hand was light upon my brow.

At last with evening as I turned

Homeward, and thought what I had learned

And all that there was still to probe --

I caught the glory of Her robe

Where the last fires of sunset burned.

Back to the world with quickening start

I looked and longed for any part

In making saving beauty be....

And from that kindling ecstasy

I knew Goddess dwelt within my heart.