Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, REBEL FAITH, by WILLIAM ROSE BENET


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

REBEL FAITH, by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: Ere dawn I was gone
Last Line: In my home behind me!
Subject(s): Faith; Belief; Creed


Ere dawn I was gone.
What my four walls told me
I dwell not on,
For they could not hold me.

Oh, the lamp's warm light,
Faces fond—dear laughter!
Warmth and light—last night!
And this comes after!

Yet in storm I am warm,
And the mirk's mine ingle,—
In the thresh of the storm
Where one's wet cheeks tingle.

Black boughs—black roads,
And the fog to fold me,—
And a hurt that goads
So no home may hold me!

No road can tire,
And no fear can break me,
Though I flounder in mire
And the stars forsake me;

The house so small?
If, as they told me,
Its wise rule were All,
Yet it could not hold me!

I must joy to grieve,
Easy bliss refusing.
I must love but to leave,
And to find in losing.

Warmth and light—last night—
Of a sweet, wise order;
yet afar I fight
Toward the utmost border

Of the hurricane
And the lightning levin,
And the rushing rain
From a pitchblack heaven.

For some marshlight star
That I clapped wild eyes on
Do I post afar
O'er the grim horizon?

Nay! Near Truth will blur;
So the far seas over
I must haste from her
To return and love her.

Round the world the light
That I seek—that shall find me—
Was a lamp last night
In my home behind me!





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