And -- spirit? Is it some ethereal spark Nurtured in disembodied realms of air, Sentenced to serve within the human dark, Finding through death its deathless life elsewhere? It is the sum of ancient ache and feeling, All I have touched and seen. I cannot tell But there are, for a tardier revealing, More ancient aches and feelings found as well. Yet this is all. . . . The flower's scent is blended Of airy particles sprung from its core; And when the blossom's summer hour is ended, No scent lives on, to knock at Heaven's door. And so my spirit, which in striving shone, Shall follow where the striving heart has gone. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LATEST DECALOGUE by ARTHUR HUGH CLOUGH THE EXAMPLE by WILLIAM HENRY DAVIES DICK, A MAGGOT by JONATHAN SWIFT HERMOTIMUS by WILLIAM EDMONSTOUNE AYTOUN EPITAPH ON THE SECRETARY TO THE MUSES by JANE BARKER THE DEBT by KATHARINE LEE BATES |