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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DEBTOR AND CREDITOR AM I by WILLIAM ARTHUR DUNKERLEY

First Line: ALL WHO HAVE LIVED AND GONE
Last Line: AND THEREWITH -- LIFE'S ETERNITY.
Subject(s): RELIGION; THEOLOGY;
All who have lived and gone,
Since Time began, --
And all that they have ever done,
Since Time began, --
Their every thought, and word, and deed,
Has been unconsciously a seed,
Bringing its influence to bear
Upon my mind and character.
Yea, each and all, in their degree,
Have had their part in making @3me,@1 --
And @3you,@1 --
Just simple you, and simple me.

And equally --
Till Time shall end,
And on through all eternity, --
In its degree,
Each thought and word and deed of mine,
Or makes or mars God's fair design.
Not one but has its due effect,
In ways by me all unsuspect,
On all who shall come after me.

No tiniest ripple on the sea
But tells on its immensity.

Here as I stand -- a simple man --
I am Time's heir
Since Time began.
And more, -- in my degree, Progenitor
Of all that Time may have in store; --
Debtor and Creditor in one
Of all that has been, shall be, done.
I am at once effect and cause
Of all that is to be or was.
Enough, in truth, to make one pause
In awe-struck wonder at the laws
Which suffer no least thing to fail
In carrying on the wondrous tale.

In God's economy there is
No end to once-born energies.

The very leaf that falls and dies
Lives on again in other guise;
And no man for himself alone
Can live, or his account disown.
However small, for good or ill,
He doth Life's purposes fulfil,
And graves upon the deathless scroll
The endless record of his soul.
God's primal word was @3"Let there be!"@1
And therewith -- Life's eternity.



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