I would I might Forget that I am I

Sonnet VII

Original Text

George Santayana, Sonnets and Other Verses (New York: Stone and Kimball, 1896): 9. PS 2771 1896 Robarts Library

1I would I might forget that I am I,

2And break the heavy chain that binds me fast,

3Whose links about myself my deeds have cast.

4What in the body's tomb doth buried lie

5Is boundless; 'tis the spirit of the sky,

6Lord of the future, guardian of the past,

7And soon must forth, to know his own at last.

8In his large life to live, I fain would die.

9Happy the dumb beast, hungering for food,

10But calling not his suffering his own;

11Blessèd the angel, gazing on all good,

12But knowing not he sits upon a throne;

13Wretched the mortal, pondering his mood,

14And doomed to know his aching heart alone.

Publication Start Year

1996

RPO poem Editors

Ian Lancashire

RPO Edition

2003

Rhyme

Form