Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE MYSTIC, by CALE YOUNG RICE Poet's Biography First Line: There is a quest that calls me Last Line: Where just beyond lies god. Subject(s): God; Life; Travel; Journeys; Trips | ||||||||
There is a quest that calls me, In nights when I am lone, The need to ride where the ways divide The Known from the Unknown. I mount what thought is near me And soon I reach the place, The tenuous rim where the Seen grows dim And the Sightless hides its face. I have ridden the wind, I have ridden the sea, I have ridden the moon and stars. I have set my feet in the stirrup seat Of a comet coursing Mars. And everywhere Through the earth and air My thought speeds, lightning-shod, It comes to a place where checking pace It cries, 'Beyond lies God!' It calls me out of the darkness, It calls me out of sleep, 'Ride! ride! for you must, to the end of Dust!' It bids -- and on I sweep To the wide outposts of Being, Where there is Gulf alone -- And through a Vast that was never passed I listen for Life's tone. I have ridden the wind, I have ridden the night, I have ridden the ghosts that flee From the vaults of death like a chilling breath Over eternity. And everywhere Is the world laid bare -- Ether and star and clod -- Until I wind to its brink and find But the cry, 'Beyond lies God!' It calls me and ever calls me! And vainly I reply, 'Fools only ride where the ways divide What Is from the Whence and Why!' I am lifted into the saddle Of thoughts too strong to tame, And down the deeps and over the steeps I find ... ever the Same. I have ridden the wind, I have ridden the stars, I have ridden the force that flies With far intent through the firmament And each to each allies. And everywhere That a thought may dare To gallop, mine has trod -- Only to stand at last on the strand Where just beyond lies God. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...RICHARD, WHAT'S THAT NOISE? by RICHARD HOWARD LOOKING FOR THE GULF MOTEL by RICHARD BLANCO RIVERS INTO SEAS by LYNDA HULL DESTINATIONS by JOSEPHINE JACOBSEN THE ONE WHO WAS DIFFERENT by RANDALL JARRELL THE CONFESSION OF ST. JIM-RALPH by DENIS JOHNSON SESTINA: TRAVEL NOTES by WELDON KEES TO H. B. (WITH A BOOK OF VERSE) by MAURICE BARING A CHARM TO BRING CHILDREN (EGYPT, A.D. 100) by CALE YOUNG RICE |
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