HOUSE-WITHOUT-ROOF

Headpiece Page 339

Headpiece Page 339

BY EDITH M. THOMAS

HOUSE-WITHOUT-ROOF my house I called,Whether in palaces I dweltOr lowly cot, clay-paved and walled;And, if at wayside cross I knelt,Or if at shrine, for me the placeDissolved into hypæthral space.Beside the fire on mine own hearth,While household hours slipped softly by,With those most dearly loved on earth,Still would the ceiling fade on high;And, as the sparks my fire up-sent,My soul escaped above, unpent.The lightnings oftentimes she drew,And crossed the wingèd migrants’ flight;She sought her roof in midday blue,Where tender cloud-weft fails from sight—In evening-red’s ethereal bars—Or vault of night with brede of stars.She sought—but higher yet must riseThe courses of her mansionry;Beyond these skies to Other Skies,Its walls cut through so sheer, so free;Beyond the brede of stars, aloof,I look—but nowhere find a Roof!

HOUSE-WITHOUT-ROOF my house I called,Whether in palaces I dweltOr lowly cot, clay-paved and walled;And, if at wayside cross I knelt,Or if at shrine, for me the placeDissolved into hypæthral space.Beside the fire on mine own hearth,While household hours slipped softly by,With those most dearly loved on earth,Still would the ceiling fade on high;And, as the sparks my fire up-sent,My soul escaped above, unpent.The lightnings oftentimes she drew,And crossed the wingèd migrants’ flight;She sought her roof in midday blue,Where tender cloud-weft fails from sight—In evening-red’s ethereal bars—Or vault of night with brede of stars.She sought—but higher yet must riseThe courses of her mansionry;Beyond these skies to Other Skies,Its walls cut through so sheer, so free;Beyond the brede of stars, aloof,I look—but nowhere find a Roof!

HOUSE-WITHOUT-ROOF my house I called,Whether in palaces I dweltOr lowly cot, clay-paved and walled;And, if at wayside cross I knelt,Or if at shrine, for me the placeDissolved into hypæthral space.

HOUSE-WITHOUT-ROOF my house I called,

Whether in palaces I dwelt

Or lowly cot, clay-paved and walled;

And, if at wayside cross I knelt,

Or if at shrine, for me the place

Dissolved into hypæthral space.

Beside the fire on mine own hearth,While household hours slipped softly by,With those most dearly loved on earth,Still would the ceiling fade on high;And, as the sparks my fire up-sent,My soul escaped above, unpent.

Beside the fire on mine own hearth,

While household hours slipped softly by,

With those most dearly loved on earth,

Still would the ceiling fade on high;

And, as the sparks my fire up-sent,

My soul escaped above, unpent.

The lightnings oftentimes she drew,And crossed the wingèd migrants’ flight;She sought her roof in midday blue,Where tender cloud-weft fails from sight—In evening-red’s ethereal bars—Or vault of night with brede of stars.

The lightnings oftentimes she drew,

And crossed the wingèd migrants’ flight;

She sought her roof in midday blue,

Where tender cloud-weft fails from sight—

In evening-red’s ethereal bars—

Or vault of night with brede of stars.

She sought—but higher yet must riseThe courses of her mansionry;Beyond these skies to Other Skies,Its walls cut through so sheer, so free;Beyond the brede of stars, aloof,I look—but nowhere find a Roof!

She sought—but higher yet must rise

The courses of her mansionry;

Beyond these skies to Other Skies,

Its walls cut through so sheer, so free;

Beyond the brede of stars, aloof,

I look—but nowhere find a Roof!


Back to IndexNext