I How strange when thou wert not, a life to-be! Nor ready fancy playing fondly drew Thine unguessed lineaments in shape or hue, Wrapt in the womb of possibility, Where silence brooded o'er the darkened sea Rolling a soundless tide; nor hint nor clew Was murmured from that voiceless deep, nor blew A message on the winds to tell of thee. We know not whence, but like a sudden light From darkness flashing out, and all aglow With radiant light, thy being burst to flame! But now the unseen held thee from our sight, An unborn mystery, undreamed—and lo! Love called, and thou didst answer to thy name. II Sweet mystery, thou living soul with eyes To gaze upon the shifting scene that plays In ceaseless change about life's narrow ways, And wondering gather 'neath the circling skies The fleeting, variant image as it flies, While time with nimble shuttle weaves the days Around thine unconcernèd head, and lays His glittering thread athwart thy destinies; Echoes of life around thee come and go Unheeded, like the muffled sounds that fill The lonely watches of the central deep, When midnight bends aloft her sable bow, And feathered silence falls around, as still As utter peace and quiet as dreamless sleep. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...REVIEW by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON THE REWARD by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON A FLORIDA GHOST by SIDNEY LANIER SPOON RIVER ANTHOLOGY: MRS. CHARLES BLISS by EDGAR LEE MASTERS KILLED IN ACTION by ISAAC ROSENBERG |