Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold By "F. Harald Williams"[i.e. F. W. O. Ward]. First Edition |
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GENESIS OF A SOUL. |
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 | Matin Bells and Scarlet and Gold |  |
262
GENESIS OF A SOUL.
Without a soul, like yours I came
Into these lands,
God builded fair this mortal frame
And gave me cunning hands;
But there was something dimly needed,
Though all unheeded
And hardly missing at the first,—
A beautiful sad thirst.
But this at times I only felt
About me and not in me, seeing
No place or purpose when I knelt
For my dull being.
Into these lands,
God builded fair this mortal frame
And gave me cunning hands;
But there was something dimly needed,
Though all unheeded
And hardly missing at the first,—
A beautiful sad thirst.
But this at times I only felt
About me and not in me, seeing
No place or purpose when I knelt
For my dull being.
Without a soul, I had no part
With other men,
And a cold aching in my heart
Disturbed my narrow ken;
Life was a round of impositions,
Though premonitions
Of awful ranges far beyond
Forbade me to despond.
The brute I was with stunted powers
Chafed in its mortal mansion,
It waxed aware of dazzling dowers
And craved expansion.
With other men,
And a cold aching in my heart
Disturbed my narrow ken;
Life was a round of impositions,
Though premonitions
Of awful ranges far beyond
Forbade me to despond.
The brute I was with stunted powers
Chafed in its mortal mansion,
It waxed aware of dazzling dowers
And craved expansion.
Without a soul, I could not fill
One office high,
And I went groping darkly still
When Heaven itself was nigh;
A dearth with dreary nameless anguish
Which made me languish,
Fell deeper while it wrapped me round
With haunting hopeless bound.
I held no stake in earthly things
Nor trysting-place for common kindness,
And threatening shades and murmurings
Burst through my blindness.
One office high,
And I went groping darkly still
When Heaven itself was nigh;
A dearth with dreary nameless anguish
Which made me languish,
Fell deeper while it wrapped me round
With haunting hopeless bound.
I held no stake in earthly things
Nor trysting-place for common kindness,
And threatening shades and murmurings
Burst through my blindness.
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Without a soul I might not tread
Along the path,
Which skirts the borders of the dead
And compassed in with wrath.
The little blank grew daily vaster
And veiled disaster,
Though glimpses of a higher state
Dawned on me delicate.
And with no interest or plan
To lend my life a proper reason,
I moved a creature not a man
Born out of season.
Along the path,
Which skirts the borders of the dead
And compassed in with wrath.
The little blank grew daily vaster
And veiled disaster,
Though glimpses of a higher state
Dawned on me delicate.
And with no interest or plan
To lend my life a proper reason,
I moved a creature not a man
Born out of season.
Without a soul I travailed sore
With solemn fears,
I could not though I would adore
With deaf and earthbound ears;
Until a child with plaything broken
And grief unspoken,
Rousing the love that in me lay
Let in a shining ray;
But whence the sudden glory fell
And what this new and second nature,
I who accepted cannot tell
Its legislature.
With solemn fears,
I could not though I would adore
With deaf and earthbound ears;
Until a child with plaything broken
And grief unspoken,
Rousing the love that in me lay
Let in a shining ray;
But whence the sudden glory fell
And what this new and second nature,
I who accepted cannot tell
Its legislature.
Without a soul I was not now
An exile strange,
And all my being seem to bow
Responsive to the change;
A wellspring from its bases bubbling
Dispersed the troubling,
And through me poured the pleasant streams
Of living dreams;
There was a stirring with a glow
Like sunlight of the bluest weather,
And secret powers above, below,
All rushed together.
An exile strange,
And all my being seem to bow
Responsive to the change;
A wellspring from its bases bubbling
Dispersed the troubling,
And through me poured the pleasant streams
Of living dreams;
There was a stirring with a glow
Like sunlight of the bluest weather,
And secret powers above, below,
All rushed together.
Without a soul I might not be
A bondsman still,
When once the inner part of me
Was touched by alien ill;
I lost myself to find in others
And bruisèd brothers,
Myself again but yet more bright
And blest in borrowed light;
For in that little child forlorn,
I in my barren cold captivity
Was at a radiant hour re-born
Into Divinity.
A bondsman still,
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Was touched by alien ill;
I lost myself to find in others
And bruisèd brothers,
Myself again but yet more bright
And blest in borrowed light;
For in that little child forlorn,
I in my barren cold captivity
Was at a radiant hour re-born
Into Divinity.
Without a soul I shall not live
Though ages pass,
And worlds turn pale and fugitive
Or fade as flowers and grass;
I have the secret and assurance
Of that endurance,
Which though the mountains faint and fail
Shall over all prevail;
And if I sometimes miss the clue
Or fret in this poor human border,
I am a portion of the true
Eternal order.
Though ages pass,
And worlds turn pale and fugitive
Or fade as flowers and grass;
I have the secret and assurance
Of that endurance,
Which though the mountains faint and fail
Shall over all prevail;
And if I sometimes miss the clue
Or fret in this poor human border,
I am a portion of the true
Eternal order.
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