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Wilfrid Scawen Blunt - Body And Soul: A Metaphysical Argument
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Man openeth the case
 Body, from the arrogance
 Of the Soul thou seekest shield,
 Makest prayer the old mis--chance
 Of your birth--bond be repealed,
 Since, sayest thou, the Soul would wield
 Sovereign power and looks askance
 At her partner in life`s dance.

 Tell me, Soul, why claimest thou,
 Of what right, this sovereignty?
 Wherefore dost thou cloud thy brow,
 This thy partner standing nigh?
 Scorn is written in thine eye
 Watching him. Speak plain and show
 All thy plaint that I may know.

The Soul speaketh
 Judge most just! Wouldst ask of me
 My being`s secret? Ask the fire
 Why he is kindled in the tree,
 And why his flames mount high and higher
 In scorn of the poor tortured pyre
 Which feedeth him. Ask why the Sea
 Thus frets her bed eternally.

 The flames their kindred flames would reach;
 The waves leap up towards the Moon,
 And when they foam upon the beach
 Grow pale like her. From morn to noon
 The sun--flower turneth with the Sun.
 A power there is in all and each
 Should lesson thee what I would teach.

 For I am subtle as the air
 Which stirs the tree--tops, scattering wide
 The feathered seed--blooms everywhere
 And ordering all, itself unspied,
 And is unchanged while all beside
 Change and decay. In me no share
 Is of the death these others bear.

 Simple in essence I, to thee
 Known but as one exiled by Fate
 From her old home Eternity,
 And sunk awhile from her estate
 And bound to a material mate,
 Through whose gross shape and quality
 Alone my worth revealed may be.

 Yet, shall I doubt me of the power,
 Inborn in me, to seek a throne,
 Although I stumble toward the hour
 Which waits with death, my penance done,
 Body to naught and I to run
 Simple and unconditioned nor
 On quality dependent more?

 Or is faith nothing? O I feel
 Pity for this poor thing of dust;
 And that is why I bid him kneel
 And be ennobled, for he must
 Kneel first before his queen in trust.
 Then would I strike him with my steel
 And bind my spurs upon his heel.

 But his mistrust defieth me,
 His striving still against the bond
 Which joineth us, nor will he see
 Our wisdom must be straight uncrowned,
 And he but perish of the wound,
 In such divorcement were he free.
 This is my secret, this my plea.

The Judge questioneth
 Body, hast thou heard aright
 How Soul thus doth thee deny?
 She hath claimed in thy despite
 Being from Eternity.
 Hast thou ancestry as high?
 Tell thy title, thou sad wight,
 Else her claim will I requite.  Body replieth
 Wouldst thou know my lineage?
 Look around thee. Thou shalt trace
 From form to form, from age to age,
 Fossil records of my race.
 I, the latest, claim my place
 Engrossed on Earth`s ancestral page
 By right inscribed of heritage.

 Tell me, in those days long gone
 Where was Soul? What then her power?
 If to--day she claims a throne,
 Was she fashioned me before?
 Both of us old Matter bore.
 I the elder was, Time`s son,
 Ages vast ere Soul was known.

 Soul came later. My male might
 Shielded her in her first cell,
 She a frail fair anchorite,
 Guarded by my valiance well,
 Silent, sanct, intangible.
 All my joy she was, and light,
 A new dawning on my night.

 Thus the out--set. Tryst we kept
 In good concord I and she.
 Mine the strength which overstepped
 Her weak life`s propinquity.
 Or we yielded mutually;
 I was weary and she slept,
 She was wounded and I wept.

 Happy days of growth. Ah why
 Must change come with pride of youth?
 She was eager, slow--foot I,
 Glorious she, I all uncouth.
 Her new wit showed little ruth,
 Threw out cunning wings to fly,
 Made as she would pass me by.

 And when she found she could not win
 Alone upon the blast of Time,
 It irked her we were counted kin,
 Until she held it me a crime
 I should be matched with one sublime
 And noble as she fain had been,
 And last she claimed to be my queen.

 Therefore from her arrogance
 And her pride I make appeal
 Praying this the ordinance
 Of our birth--bond, grown unleal,
 Thou wouldst cancel or make real.
 Be our judge in this mis--chance;
 Else decree deliverance.  Judgement is given
 I am but by your union.
 With either Soul or Body lost,
 All perisheth. Then work ye on
 Together friends, not corpse and ghost.
 To live and be is a brave boast.
 Learn this; alone ye nothing can,
 Yet both together ye make Man.
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