Classic Poem

Just to own my own soul,
To come into the day earlier than the sun,
To accept the night before its first shadow has arrived,
To start the make of worlds in my own nebula,
To practice self denial in the hot fire of indulgence,
To stop the clock and to time myself to the hours of the heart,
To find the north of the soul and the south of the soul compassed forever by a dauntless will,
To gather myself together out of the crowd,
To gather the crowd fondly within my heart,
To be impatient of lovers in order to love:
These are the laws and the provisions of the voyage of the soul,
These are the abundant winds that drive my soul craft into the lone seas,
These are the cloudbreaks and the waveshallops of the passage of the soul
Think of the ages I have traveled just to be what I am, and now that I am what I am you ask me to become something else
Think of the roots of me, where they go,
Think of my trial years of disaster before I could stand on my feet,
Think of the animal forms and the vegetable forms I had to cast aside before I shook hands with you today with my hat on my head,
Think of what I have given up to get here and why being here at all is a mysterious result and is to lead to still other results:
Now you would sweep me aside, now you would make me of no account
You would take me into your parlors and incline my soul to the declension of your faith,
You would sing me a tyrant song and cut my music down to the dead beat of your ratatoo,
You would servant me and master me to the slave processes of the earth,
You would leave me nothing of myself but a remnant, a reminiscence, a goodbye!
I cannot stand it, I must be alone: desert me, hate me!
By God! I am never safe while you love me:
Get off my road! Do you not see that you choke the room and I want fresh air?
Do you not see that I am bound ankle and wrist by love and must break free?
I surrender you everything — take it — go: give me the great plain to myself:
Take your universe, take your arts, take your wardrobes and your showdrags:
I do not ask you to leave me a scrap — leave only me
I have fed the long harvests of the ages for this, for the fruit of my soul's tree
I went to man with my love before my love was ready,
I withdraw from man until my love has become so sure of itself that it dares to go with other loves.
I do not part with you in anger, dear kinsmen:
I am not a safe companion, you are not safe for me
I am leagues of ages aloof, I am ten thousand stars away, yet I cry for room, I push you still farther into space,
Wild to love you, yet suffocated with your love,
Gladly laying at your door every right and every property I possess,
Just to own my own soul.