|
|
|
Classic and Contemporary Poetry
TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 2. CHILD OF THE LONELY HEART, by EDWARD CARPENTER Poet's Biography
First Line: Child of the lonely heart
Last Line: Through the great mother-heart eternally ascending!
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Hearts; Solitude; Loneliness
First Line: Child of the lonely heart
Last Line: Through the great mother-heart eternally ascending!
Subject(s): Childhood Memories; Hearts; Solitude; Loneliness
CHILD of the lonely heart,
O clinging supplicating soul,
Through thy chamber, thy prison, thy palace, the body, solitary roaming,
The great world through the windows sadly, questioningly exploring.—
O love, love, love,
At thy feet,
By thy side,
My hand if only resting in thine:
See, I am so little, I ask so little—
If thou wilt take this little overflowing cup
Into thy great ocean.
O love, love, love,
Thee alone.
Always only thee: I find nothing beautiful but thee.
Lo! when I look forth, what is it all?
These lines of houses,
This sad interminable sky,
This gay life—which is my pretext—but underneath I am sick sick
at heart
For one touch of true love.
O love, love, love,
Since I was a little child, and till I die, the same.
Nothing I reserve—
I am so little and I ask so little:
If thou wilt take this little overflowing cup
Into thy great ocean.
Child of the lonely heart,
O clinging supplicating soul,
Through thy chamber, thy prison, thy palace—
Ah! children, through the world, through the ages, by thousands and
thousands, by millions and millions,
Unaware, unwhispered—in your own great followship nninitiate—
Blindly yearning, tentatively questioningly darkly exploring
Through the great Mother-heart eternally ascending!
Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!
Other Poems of Interest...
IN ABEYANCE by DENISE LEVERTOV
IN A VACANT HOUSE by PHILIP LEVINE
SUNDAY ALONE IN A FIFTH FLOOR APARTMENT, CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS by WILLIAM MATTHEWS
SILENCE LIKE COOL SAND by PAT MORA
THE HONEY BEAR by EILEEN MYLES
AS A MOULD FOR SOME FAIR FORM by EDWARD CARPENTER