OUT of the soil and the slime, Reeking, they climb, Out of the muck and the mire, Rank, they aspire;
Filthy with murder and mud, Black with shed blood, Lust and passion and clay--Dying, they slay;
Stirred by vague hints of a goal, Seeking a soul!
Groping through terror and night Up to the light:
Life in the dust and the clod Sensing a God;
Flushed of the glamor and gleam Caught from a dream;
Stained of the struggle and toil, Stained of the soil, Ally of God in the end--Helper and friend--Hero and prophet and priest Out of the beast!
