| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 336. The Seekers |
| By John Masefield |
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| FRIENDS and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blessed abode, | |
| But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road. | |
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| Not for us are content, and quiet, and peace of mind, | |
| For we go seeking a city that we shall never find. | |
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| There is no solace on earth for us—for such as we— | 5 |
| Who search for a hidden city that we shall never see. | |
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| Only the road and the dawn, the sun, the wind, and the rain, | |
| And the watch-fire under stars, and sleep, and the road again. | |
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| We seek the City of God, and the haunt where beauty dwells, | |
| And we find the noisy mart and the sound of burial bells. | 10 |
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| Never the golden city, where radiant people meet, | |
| But the dolorous town where mourners are going about the street. | |
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| We travel the dusty road till the light of the day is dim, | |
| And sunset shows us spires away on the world’s rim. | |
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| We travel from dawn to dusk, till the day is past and by, | 15 |
| Seeking the Holy City beyond the rim of the sky. | |
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| Friends and loves we have none, nor wealth nor blest abode, | |
| But the hope of the City of God at the other end of the road. | |
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