Richard Watson Gilder

The New Day. Part 3. 7. Body and Soul

I

O, thou my Love, love first my lonely soul!
⁠     Then shall this too unworthy body of mine
⁠     Be loved by right and accident divine.
     ⁠Forget the flesh, that the pure spirit's goal
May be the spirit; let that stand the whole
⁠     Of what thou lov'st in me. So will the shine
⁠     Of soul that strikes on soul make fair and fine
⁠     This earthy tenement; thou shalt extol
The inner, that the outer lovelier seem.
⁠     Thy lover, who thy love implores, doth fear
     ⁠No deadlier foe than the impassioned dream
Should drive thee to him, and should hold thee near—
     ⁠Near to the body, not the soul of him:
     ⁠Love first my soul and then both will be dear.

II

But, Love, for me thy body was the first.
⁠     One day I wandered idly through the town,
⁠     Then entered a cathedral's silence brown
⁠     Which sudden thrilled with a strange heavenly burst
Of light and music. Lo! that traveler durst
⁠     Do nothing now but worship and fall down.
     ⁠He thought to rest, as doth some tired clown
     ⁠Who sinks in longed-for sleep, but there immersed
Finds restless vision on vision of beauty rare.
⁠     Moved by thy body's outer majesty
⁠     I entered in thy silent, sacred shrine;
'T was then, all suddenly and unaware,
     ⁠Thou didst reveal, O, maiden Love! to me,
⁠     This beautiful, singing, holy soul of thine.