Dreams and Dream-Stories by Anna Kingsford

In nameless forests, long since dead.
Dreams and Dream-Stories by Anna Kingsford
And ever thus in ceaseless roll
The wheels of Destiny and Time
Through changing form and age and clime
Bear onward the undying Soul:
Till now a Sense, confused and dim,
Dawns in a shape of nobler mould,
Less beast, scarce human; uncontrolled,
With free fierce life in every limb;
A savage youth, in painted gear,
Foot fleeter than the summer wind;
Scant speech for scanty needs designed,
Content with sweetheart, spoil and spear:
And, passing thence, with burning breath,
A fiery Soul that knows no fear,
The arméd hosts of Odin hear
Her voice amid the ranks of death;
There, where the sounds of war are shrill,
And clarion shrieks, and battle roars,
Once more set free, she leaps and soars
A Soul of flame, aspiring still !
Till last, in fairer shape she stands
Where lotos-scented waters glide,
A Theban Priestess, dusky-eyed,
Barefooted on the golden sands; [Page 79]
Or, prostrate, in the Temple-halls,
When Spirits wake, and mortals sleep,
She hears what mighty Voices sweep
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