The Poems of Richard Watson Gilder

Back to my body came I in the gray of the dawning,
Back to my bed in the mold, 'neath the sod and the blossoms;
Not strange seemed my natural couch, not new, not afflicting;
But strange now, and new, and afflicting my natural body,
Alien long while my soul took the wings of the morning.
I lifted my hands to the light—then swiftly I followed,
With fingers that carefully prest, the curve of the muscles;
All was familiar; this was the frame I had nurtured,
I had loved as a man loves the body so long his companion;
Again was I 'ware of the brow where the dew of sweet kisses
Fell, ere forth went the stripling to life and the shudder
Of battle;—again from the mirror of waters the features
Not unloved of dear comrades looked forth. I beheld in amazement
The bodily presence so long laid aside and forgotten;
Overwhelmed was my soul with its shackles; I grieved, I lamented
As a prisoner dragged back to his cell, as an eagle recaptured.

University of Virginia Library

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