Enquire within upon everything by Robert Kemp Philp

I had a little spot of ground, Where blade nor blossom grew, Though the bright sunshine all around Life-giving radiance threw. I mourned to see a spot so bare Of leaves of healthful green, And thought of bowers, and blossoms fair, I frequently had seen. Some seeds of various kinds lay by-- I knew not what they were-- But, rudely turning o'er the soil, I strewed them thickly there; And day by day I watched them spring From out the fertile earth, And hoped for many a lovely thing Of beauty and of worth. But as I marked their leaves unfold As weeds before my view, And saw how stubbornly and bold The thorns and nettles grew-- I sighed to think that I had done, Unwittingly, a thing That, where a beauteous bower should thrive, But worthless weeds did spring. And thus I mused; the things we do, With little heed or ken, May prove of worthless growth, and strew With thorns the paths of men; For little deeds, like little seeds, May flowers prove, or noxious weeds!