Page:Poems (1915) G K Chesterton.djvu/75

 Said the Lord God, "Build a house,

Smoke and iron, spark and steam,

Speak and vote and buy and sell;

Let a new world throb and stream,

Seers and makers, build it well."

Strove the cunning men and strong,

But a little and they cry,

"Lord, mayhap we are but clay,

And we cannot know the why,"

And the wise men doubt to-day.

Yet though worn and deaf and blind,

Force and savage, king and seer

Labour still, they know not why;

At the dim foundation here,

Knead and plough and think and ply.

Till at last, mayhap, hereon,

Fused of passion and accord,

Love its crown and peace its stay

Rise the city of the Lord

That we darkly build to-day.