Like sunlight, I touch all things, yet nothing do I gain;
I am neither richer nor poorer than I was at the beginning of things.
Passion, hope, pain, grief, leave me unchanged (I shed universes and moult cycles).
To the eye of the world I am tossed like a cork on rough waters,
But I know I have stood Here since the Day of the Primal Appearance,
Transfixed in supreme wonder,
Rigid in pride, dissenting, unmoved.
Publication History
- The Shadow-Eater [1915/17 and 1923]
- “Poems of a Shadow Eater” (syndicated review with several poems included)
- Text changes:
- The Long Vigil > Long Vigil of the Human Soul.
- Here since the Day of the Primal Appearance > here since the day of the primal appearance
