Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SOUL, by RICHARD HENRY DANA (1787-1879) Poet's Biography First Line: Come, brother, turn with me from pining thought Last Line: And be like man at first, a living soul. Variant Title(s): The Life Of God In The Soul Of Man Subject(s): Soul | ||||||||
COME, Brother, turn with me from pining thought And all the inward ills that sin has wrought; Come, send abroad a love for all who live, And feel the deep content in turn they give. Kind wishes and good deeds,they make not poor; They 'll home again, full laden, to thy door; The streams of love flow back where they begin, For springs of outward joys lie deep within. Even let them flow, and make the places glad Where dwell thy fellow-men. Shouldst thou be sad, And earth seem bare, and hours, once happy, press Upon thy thoughts, and make thy loneliness More lonely for the past, thou then shalt hear The music of those waters running near; And thy faint spirit drink the cooling stream, And thine eye gladden with the playing beam That now upon the water dances, now Leaps up and dances in the hanging bough. Is it not lovely? Tell me, where doth dwell The power that wrought so beautiful a spell? In thine own bosom, Brother? Then as thine Guard with a reverent fear this power divine. And if, indeed, 't is not the outward state, But temper of the soul by which we rate Sadness or joy, even let thy bosom move With noble thoughts and wake thee into love; And let each feeling in thy breast be given An honest aim, which, sanctified by Heaven, And springing into act, new life imparts, Till beats thy frame as with a thousand hearts. Sin clouds the mind's clear vision; Around the self-starved soul has spread a dearth. The earth is full of life; the living Hand Touched it with life; and all its forms expand With principles of being made to suit Man's varied powers and raise him from the brute. And shall the earth of higher ends be full, Earth which thou tread'st,and thy poor mind be dull? Thou talk of life, with half thy soul asleep? Thou "living dead man," let thy spirit leap Forth to the day, and let the fresh air blow Through thy soul's shut-up mansion. Wouldst thou know Something of what is life, shake off this death; Have thy soul feel the universal breath With which all nature's quick, and learn to be Sharer in all that thou dost touch or see; Break from thy body's grasp, thy spirit's trance; Give thy soul air, thy faculties expanse; Love, joy, even sorrow,yield thyself to all! They make thy freedom, groveler, not thy thrall. Knock off the shackles which thy spirit bind To dust and sense, and set at large the mind! Then move in sympathy with God's great whole, And be like man at first, a living soul. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE CRUEL FALCON by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE WHOLE SOUL by PHILIP LEVINE I KNOW MY SOUL by CLAUDE MCKAY HONORING THE SAND; IN MEMORY OF JOSEPH CAMPBELL by ROBERT BLY THE CHINESE PEAKS; FOR DONALD HALL by ROBERT BLY THE LIFE OF TOWNS: TOWN OF THE EXHUMATION by ANNE CARSON THE LITTLE BEACH BIRD by RICHARD HENRY DANA (1787-1879) PROEM TO THE BUCCANEER by RICHARD HENRY DANA (1787-1879) THE CHANTING CHERUBS - A GROUP BY GREENOUGH by RICHARD HENRY DANA (1787-1879) |
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