I HAVE NEVER GIVEN MY SOUL TO THE KEEPING OF AN EARTHLY BODY

by: Elsa Barker (1869-1954)

HAVE never given my soul to the keeping of an earthly body,

And so I can sing at all times and seasons.

If I choose one time in preference to another, that is the privilege of caprice.

All along the roads of the fourth dimension are messengers watching for me;

When my voice is heard they hasten to call their lords.

I have sung in courts and camps, at the bivouac of the unborn, and in the hearts of men and angels.

Whatever room I choose as a concert-chamber is soon hung with arras.

Once I sang in a pine-grove, and the trees all shed their needles with regret that I went away.

When I come to sing in your chamber, leave a crack of the window open,

That I may go and leave you when you want me most to stay.

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