I Am The World

<SPAN name="startofbook"></SPAN> <h2><!-- page 53--><SPAN name="page53"></SPAN><span class="pagenum">p. 53</span>I AM THE WORLD</h2> <p style="text-align: center">BY DORA SIGERSON<br/> (MRS CLEMENT SHORTER)</p> <p class="poetry">I am the song, that rests upon the cloud;<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I am the sun:<br/> I am the dawn, the day, the hiding shroud,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; When dusk is done.</p> <p class="poetry">I am the changing colours of the tree;<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; The flower uncurled:<br/> I am the melancholy of the sea;<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I am the world.</p> <p class="poetry">The other souls that, passing in their place,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Each in their groove;<br/> Out-stretching hands that chain me and embrace,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Speak and reprove.</p> <p class="poetry">&ldquo;O atom of that law, by which the earth<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Is poised and whirled;<br/> Behold! you hurrying with the crowd assert<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; You are the world.&rdquo;</p> <p class="poetry">Am I not one with all the things that be<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Warm in the sun?<br/> All that my ears can hear, or eyes can see,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Till all be done.</p> <p class="poetry"><!-- page 54--><SPAN name="page54"></SPAN><span class="pagenum"></span>Of song and shine, of changing leaf apart,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Of bud uncurled:<br/> With all the senses pulsing at my heart,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I am the world.</p> <p class="poetry">One day the song that drifts upon the wind,<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; I shall not hear;<br/> Nor shall the rosy shoots to eyes grown blind<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Again appear.</p> <p class="poetry">Deaf, in the dark, I shall arise and throw<br /> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; From off my soul,<br/> The withered world with all its joy and woe,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; That was my goal.</p> <p class="poetry">I shall arise, and like a shooting star<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Slip from my place;<br/> So lingering see the old world from afar<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Revolve in space.</p> <p class="poetry">And know more things than all the wise may know<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Till all be done;<br/> Till One shall come who, breathing on the stars,<br/> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Blows out the sun.</p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />