THEREFORE I said unto my Soul, "Rejoice, Oh Soul, be comforted, for thou long time Hast fared upon the snow-clad heights, and breathed The icy mountain air, and watched the dawn Steal upward from the Eastern rim, and marked The silver shafts transmuted into gold By the uprushing Sun, and oft alone, Sole, unattended, save of thine own strength, Above the slumbering cities seen the throngs Wake the hushed streets, and heard the warring sounds Of joy and sorrow, birth and death, arise, Blent in the sweet sad symphony of Life, And the tired world revive. And thou hast smiled, Flouting the aimless struggle from afar On thy untrodden height, the stress, the toil, And trouble of the Race; dwelling apart From wars and tribulations, and the clash And jangle of opposing schools, convinced That all alike were vain, and mocking all. "Nor hast thou bowed thee with hysteric zeal At shrines which were not Reason's, casting down The birthright of thy freedom and the gains Of Man's long upward struggle, and the hope Of his high-soaring Future, in the mire At the priest's bidding, while the blinding fumes Of the swung censers and the magic spell Of Art and Music chained thee, eye and ear. But standing cold, aloof, disdain'dst to kneel Where the throng knelt, incredulous, alone. "Nor hast thou wallowed in the sensual sty, Nor known the fetters Sloth and Dalliance Bind round the nascent life, the mists of sense Quenching Youth's pure white fire; but by thy cell And midnight lamp, Divine Philosophy Sate grave, with clear cold eyes; and wholesome toil Engrossed thy days and purged thee of all stain Of sin, till thou, to godlike stature grown, Didst spurn the grosser Earth. Therefore, oh Soul, Rejoice, and be thou glad." But not a word Of answer came, but through the formless void, Beyond the circuits of the faintest stars, A thin wail, like the melancholy wind Among the high-set pines or caverned rocks, Hopeless, revoluble, reverberant, And deepening to a groan, which seemed to say, "Oh, self-deceived, self-righteous, nothing worth, And self-betrayed! Oh, fool! in vain! in vain!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...CONTRA MORTEM: THE VILLAGE by HAYDEN CARRUTH HOW THEY GO ON by JAMES GALVIN MARTHA WASHINGTON by SIDNEY LANIER DOMESDAY BOOK: GEORGE JOSLIN ON LA MENKEN by EDGAR LEE MASTERS SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: ELMER BARR by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |