Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

TOWARDS DEMOCRACY: PART 2. I KNOW THAT YOU ARE SELF-CONSCIOUS by EDWARD CARPENTER

First Line: I KNOW THAT YOU ARE SELF-CONSCIOUS
Last Line: BESIDE YOU, OVER YOUR SHOULDER?
Subject(s): SELF-CONSCIOUSNESS;
I KNOW that you are self-conscious,
That you are troubled—haunted—tormented. It is not pleasant!

But how wonderful is the mere sense of space in the world—after the
sick-chamber and days of illness!
And how wonderful is the sense of measureless space in the soul, and of
freedom, henceforth inalienable!
Look then in the glass once more, and satisfy yourself thoroughly about it:

Do you not see, this time, that there is some one else looking in it also
Beside you, over your shoulder?



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