"To Each His Need"

"To Each His Need"

To the hungry, Lord, give food;

      To the cold, a cheerful fire;

To the young man, a faith to keep;

      To the maid, her heart’s desire.

To the old, give memories;

      To youth, ideals fair;

To him that, singing, fares alone,

      The stars and wide, sweet air.

To the lonely, kindness, Lord;

      To the homeless one, a home;

And unto him of the wandering foot,

      The long, wild road to roam.

To the timid one, the mead

      With flowers dappled o’er;

But to the passion-hearted, Lord,

      The ocean’s surge and roar.

Yea, mountains vast and high,

      Crowned with eternal snow;

And thundering to the purple sea,

      The glacier’s splendid flow.

Unto each one his need,

      Though it be light or deep,

And unto all in sorrow, Lord—

      The blessed boon of sleep.

"To Each His Need" printed in an unidentified publication, clipping courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA. 

"To Each His Need" as it appears in Ella Higginson's The Vanishing Race (1911).