Page:The roamer and other poems (1920).djvu/99

Thou art forever," answered that pure voice,
Which spoke o'erawed with higher mystery,
Solemn, deep-breathed, profound: "the spirit shares
The eternity of beauty seated there
In the soul's essence, there its realm and throne;
Yet hath the soul full many an earthly change.
With worship and desire its life begins,
With love and adoration for the good
That most releases it in power and joy,
And most absorbs its joy and power released.
Fore-seen, fore-felt, fore-known in the ideal,
Beauty, wherewith it shall itself be clothed
And grow incarnate, maddens the young soul,
As if the unhewn statue in the block
Should passion for itself; the poet so,
Until he be disburdened of his song,
Is with prophetic inspiration mad;
And as the sculptor frees the marble god,
And poets' fancies people oft the air,
The soul embodies mortally, and knows,
In passions, tastes, and appetites achieved,
Its form and image, seen in this dim sphere.
This builds it outwardly its mortal shell,
Experience, its stamp and other self,
Making apparent what its nature is.

Here, in experience, as in clay, it works,