THE Old Soul came from far, Beyond the unlit bound; There had gone out a star And a great world was drowned, Since birth and death and birth Were hers, upon the earth. For she had robed anew Time and time out of mind; And, as the sphere of dew Unshapes into the wind, Her raiment oft had cast Into the wasting past. There was no dizzying height She had not sometime trod, No dungeon known of night But she had felt its rod; The saint, assoiled from sin -- And saint's arch-foe -- had been! At cruel feasts she sate, Where heartless mirth ran high; Through famine's portal strait Had fled her wailful cry; All human fates had proved, And those from man removed. Yea, she had worn the guise Of creatures lashed and spurned -- Even of those whose eyes May not on heaven be turned; No house too dark or base To be her tarrying place! The Old Soul came from far; And, all lives having known, She nowhere touched a bar, But all was as her own: And this could none forget Who once her look had met! The Old Soul came from far, Moving through days and ways That are not -- and that are! She turned on all her gaze -- Illumed, -- deceived, -- illumed; Yet still the road resumed. The Old Soul came from far, And toward the far she drew. "Turn home, mine avatar!" That voice, long lost, she knew; She heard, she turned -- was free -- No more to dream, but Be! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...HYMN FOR ALL SAINTS DAY IN THE MORNING by HENRY ALFORD THE MARVELOUS MUNCHAUSEN by WILLIAM ROSE BENET HUMAN PLEASURE OR PAIN by MATILDA BARBARA BETHAM-EDWARDS THE GOLDEN AGE by HARRY RANDOLPH BLYTHE THE CHRISTENING by THOMAS EDWARD BROWN MASQUE AT THE MARRIAGE OF THE EARL OF SOMERSET: CHORUS (2) by THOMAS CAMPION |