Harriet Monroe, ed. (1860–1936). The New Poetry: An Anthology. 1917.

Ortus

HOW have I labored?

How have I not labored

To bring her soul to birth,

To give these elements a name and a centre!

She is beautiful as the sunlight, and as fluid.

She has no name, and no place.

How have I labored to bring her soul into separation;

To give her a name and her being!

Surely you are bound and entwined,

You are mingled with the elements unborn;

I have loved a stream and a shadow.

I beseech you enter your life.

I beseech you learn to say “I”

When I question you:

For you are no part, but a whole;

No portion, but a being.