The Elixir

Teach me, my God and King,
          In all things Thee to see,
And what I do in anything
          To do it as for Thee.

          Not rudely, as a beast,
          To run into an action;
But still to make Thee prepossest,
          And give it his perfection.

          A man that looks on glass,
          On it may stay his eye;
Or if he pleaseth, through it pass,
          And then the heav'n espy.

          All may of Thee partake:
          Nothing can be so mean,
Which with his tincture—"for Thy sake"—
          Will not grow bright and clean.

          A servant with this clause
          Makes drudgery divine:
Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws,
          Makes that and th' action fine.

          This is the famous stone
          That turneth all to gold;
For that which God doth touch and own
          Cannot for less be told.


-- George Herbert (1593-1633), English priest and poet, from The Temple (1633)