Transformation + 

Only a little shrivelled seed, + 

It might be flower, or grass, or weed; + 

Only a box of earth on the edge + 

Of a narrow, dusty window-ledge; + 

Only a few scant summer showers; + 

Only a few clear shining hours; + 

That was all. Yet God could make + 

Out of these, for a sick child’s sake, + 

A blossom-wonder, fair and sweet + 

As ever broke at an angel’s feet. + 

Only a life of barren pain, + 

Wet with sorrowful tears for rain, + 

Warmed sometimes by a wandering gleam + 

Of joy, that seemed but a happy dream; + 

A life as common and brown and bare + 

As the box of earth in the window there; + 

Yet it bore, at last, the precious bloom + 

Of a perfect soul in that narrow room; + 

Pure as the snowy leaves that fold + 

Over the flower’s heart of gold. + 