Observations placeholder
Russell, George William - Call not thy wanderer home as yet
Identifier
004760
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
The poem describes the advice Russell is giving to a baby …
A description of the experience
Call not thy wanderer home as yet
Though it be late
Now is his first assailing of
The invisible gate
Be still through that light knocking. The hour
Is thronged with fate
To that first tapping at the invisible door
Fate answereth
What shining image or voice, what sigh
Or honied breath
Comes forth, shall be the master of life
Even to death
Satyrs may follow after. Seraphs
On crystal wing
May blaze. But the delicate first comer
It shall be king
They shall obey, even the mightiest
That gentle thing
……………………….
In ancient shadows and twilights
When childhood had strayed
The world’s great sorrows were born
And its heroes were made
In the lost boyhood of Judas
Christ was betrayed
Let thy young wanderer dream on
Call him not home
A door opens, a breath, a voice
From the ancient room
Speaks to him now. Be it dark or bright
He is knit with his doom