Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). A Victorian Anthology, 1837–1895. 1895.

Samuel Waddington b. 1844

Soul and Body

WHERE wert thou, Soul, ere yet my body born

Became thy dwelling place? Didst thou on earth,

Or in the clouds, await this body’s birth?

Or by what chance upon that winter’s morn

Didst thou this body find, a babe forlorn?

Didst thou in sorrow enter, or in mirth?

Or for a jest, perchance, to try its worth

Thou tookest flesh, ne’er from it to be torn?

Nay, Soul, I will not mock thee; well I know

Thou wert not on the earth, nor in the sky;

For with my body’s growth thou too didst grow;

But with that body’s death wilt thou too die?

I know not, and thou canst not tell me, so

In doubt we ’ll go together,—thou and I.