The Body to the Soul

Said the body to the soul,

You are Master, you control;

Viewless, coming from afar,

Mystery to yourself you are.

I, of earthly atoms made,

Stand erect, am not afraid;

Must forever, as I run,

Cast a shadow in the sun.

All the worlds are turning round,

We are strangers, outward bound,

Down the roads we do not know,

With our orders sealed we go.

You are awful in your might,

Swift and strong, you feel delight

In the movement of the years,

In the splendor of the spheres.

Strange companionship is ours,

Separate lives and mingled powers;

You will conquer time and death,

In my nostrils is my breath.

Can you tell me when we met?

Know you where our bounds are set?

Can you see the certain line,

Where we whisper “mine” and “thine” ?

I, your comrade made of clay,

Uncomplaining go or stay;

Kiss your sceptre, fear your frown,

Own your right to wear the crown.

I have fled at your command

O’er the burning wastes of sand:

Heard the icebergs grind and groan

In the lonesome Arctic Zone;

Plunged for you beneath the waves;

Faced the wild beasts in their caves;

Fought your causes on the fields

Where the foeman never yields.

I have wasted `neath the strain

Of your unacknowledged pain;

If dishonor touched your name,

Cheek and forehead flushed with shame.

When you conquered grief or wrong,

I have sung the victor’s song;

In your shining, love-lit hours

I have wreathed myself with flowers.

Now more swiftly drop the sands

Through the hour-glass in my hands,

And more oft I hear you say

I am but the hindering clay.

I arraign you, Sovereign Soul;

I, the slave whom you control,

Face you boldly; you have done

Scarce your part beneath the sun.

He who made you made me too;

In my face His breath He blew;

In to my veins, with art divine,

Mixed the blood as red as wine.

Since His hands have fashioned me,

I must unforgotten be;

If you cause me needless pain,

He will hear His dust complain.

Restless, wayward as the wind

You have suffered, you have sinned,

Urged me onward in your pride,

Beauty fleeing, rest denied.

Oft my lips are parched with thirst,

While you give me drink accurst;

oft I starve for bread to eat,

While you burn the fields of wheat.

Through his throne-room, may the king

Send his soldiers rioting?

While the workmen humbly toil,

Should the priest the temple spoil?

Sovereign Spirit, back I thow

Blame and failure; I shall go

Unaffrighted to my place,

Undishonored by my race.

You are lonesome, homesick, tost;

You have learned what life can cost;

Leaping upward like a flame,

You will vanish whence you came.

Through my fibres I shall feel

New sensations, I shall reel,

Drooping earthward, be a part

Of old Nature’s peaceful heart.

Soul of mine, if e’er you pass

Lake of heaven, as smooth as glass,

Bend above it, you may see

Some transfigured type of me!

Cleopatra
patricia	Anubis