William Preston Johnston - Dedication lyrics

In this small book I seek the sonnet's aid, Some pictures of the past in words to paint And show how seekers after God essayed To find him; patriarch and martyred saint And spotless sage free from all selfish taint And Christian knight and missionary mild, And how heaven answers to the heart's wild plaint, And wisdom cometh to the little child. But none of those whom I on earth have known Have sought God's will with a more strenuous quest, With eager prayer and thought of Him alone And anxious wish to do his least behest Than thou, my sister, earliest, dearest friend, To whom these autumn leaves with love I send.