words by Bliss Carman, now in the public domain

music © 1985 Jane Best

Vestigia is Latin for "footprints"

I took a day to search for God,

And found Him not. But as I trod

By rocky ledge, through woods untamed,

Just where one scarlet lily flamed,

I saw His footprint in the sod.

Then suddenly, all unaware,

Far off in the deep shadows, where

A solitary hermit thrush

Sang through the holy twilight hush-

I heard His voice upon the air.

And even as I marveled how

God gives us Heaven here and now,

In a stir of wind that hardly shook

The poplar leaves beside the brook-

His hand was light upon my brow.

At last with evening as I turned

Homeward, and thought what I had learned

And all that there was still to probe-

I caught the glory of His robe

Where the last fires of sunset burned.

Back to the world with quickening start

I looked and longed for any part

In making saving Beauty be...

and from that kindling ecstasy

I know God dwelt within my heart.