Classic and Contemporary Poetry
REINCARNATION, by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD Poet's Biography First Line: I know not how, I know not where Last Line: They left the hills of light. Subject(s): God; Life; Reincarnation; Soul; Transmigration; Pretas | ||||||||
I know not how, I know not where, But from my own heart's mystic lore I feel that I have breathed this air, And walked this earth before; And that in this, its latest form My old-time spirit once more strives, As it has fought through many a storm In past, forgotten lives. Not inexperienced did my soul This incarnation's threshold tread; Not recordless has proved the scroll It brought back from the dead. To certain, special lines of thought My mind intuitively tends, And old affinities have brought Not new, but ancient friends. What thrilled me in a previous state Rekindles here its ancient flame; What I by instinct love and hate I knew before I came; And lands, of which in youth I dreamed And read, heart-moved, and longed to see, When really visited, have seemed Not strange but known to me. When Mozart, still a child, untaught, Ran joyous to the silent keys, And with inspired fingers wrought Majestic harmonies, There fell upon his psychic ear Faint echoes of a music known Before his natal advent here, In former lives outgrown. In many a dumb brute's wistful eyes A dawning human soul aspires, For thus from lower forms we rise, -- Ourselves our spirits' sires. Full many a thought that thrills my breast Is fruit resulting from a seed Sown elsewhere, -- on my soul impressed By many an arduous deed; Full many a fetter which hath lamed My struggling spirit's upward flight Was once by that same spirit framed, When further from the Light; With justice, therefore, comes the pain That o'er the tortured world extends; And hopeful is the lessening stain, As each life-cycle ends. No changeless, endless states await The good and evil souls set free; Each grave is a successive gate In immortality. Too long this mighty truth hath slept Among the darkened souls of men, -- "Ye cannot see God's face, except Ye shall be born again." The God-like Christs and Buddhas yearn, However high their spirits' stage, For man's salvation to return, As Saviour or as Sage. On our benighted, groping minds Their noble precepts, star-like, shine; Each soul, that wisely seeks them, finds The truths that are divine. Misunderstood and vilified, Their aims and motives scarcely known, How many of these Saints have died, Rejected by their own! Yet, though their followers miss the way, In spite of precept and of prayer, And lead unnumbered souls astray, Committed to their care, Upon the lofty spirit-plane, Where all lies open to their sight, The Masters know that not in vain They left the Hills of Light. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...PINSK AFTER DARK by ALLEN GINSBERG TRANSFORMATIONS by THOMAS HARDY PRE-EXISTENCE by PAUL HAMILTON HAYNE ETERNITY by GRACE GRISWOLD BISBY REINCARNATION by ALICE CHURCHILL CHAPHE UNREGENERATE by JACQUELINE EMBRY SECOND LIFE by JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE THE POEMS OF COLD MOUNTAIN: 100 by HAN SHAN A MAY MONODY by JOHN LAWSON STODDARD |
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