Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. THE BODY AND THE BOOK, by EDWARD CARPENTER


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 3. THE BODY AND THE BOOK, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: The chambers are all in order; all the doors stand open
Last Line: Then come thou forth to where I wait for thee.
Subject(s): Bodies; Books; Reading


THE chambers are all in order, all the doors stand open.
Enter Thou—this is the house that I have stored for thee among the
rest:
To all that is here thou art welcome

But for me ask not.
Once when the house was closed I dwelt here—a prisoner;
But now that it is open—all open—I have passed out,
Into the beautiful air, over the fields, over the world, through a thousand
homes—journeying with the wind—O so light and joyous,
Light and invisible,
I have passed, and my house is behind me.

Ask not for the prisoner, for he is not here;
Ask not for the free, for thou canst not find him.
Go back thou too and set thy house in order,
Open thy doors, let them stand wide for all to enter
—thy treasures, let the poorest take of them;
Then come thou forth to where I wait for thee.





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