Colour My World / Chicago / 1970
I’m looking for a poem.
I don’t recall the name of the Poem –
or it’s Author.
That’s not going to help.
(It was a long time ago OK?!)
I do recall most of the words …
Though some are surely incorrect.
And a stanza or two could be missing as well?
Here’s what I remember:
When I, with bitter tongue, denounce those crimes
which man commits toward his fellow men,
Cry that is cruel, and greedy, and unwise,
That he betrays his honour and his friends.
At my own door the accusation lies.
For I am part of the body of Man,
And in my breast there lodges all I blame,
Diminished merely in it’s scope and span,
In it’s essential qualities the same.
Between the world’s own faults and mine,
I find the difference of degree,
Not kind.
That’s it.
Unwhole and incorrect.
If you can assist I would be grateful.
Thank You.
Share this:
I’ll keep searching, so far, as you must have guessed, I’ve had no luck.
Much appreciated GP. I don’t ask or expect you – or anyone – to spend any great efforts or time on this. I wouldn’t ask that. Just hoped somebody might know about it. I DO think that Marilyn has provided good information that will solve this minor mystery.
NOW … if I could find that model of the Brigantine Rebecca …
No No … don’t bother.
I kept trying, but had no luck. The Bible would be another search altogether. Good luck.
I did as much research as I had time to do and I don’t have an answer except that IF this is a poem, it was surely written by one of the romantic poets (Whitman, Dickinson, T.S. Eliot, etc.) and its origins was the King James translation of the bible:
“For I am part of the body of Man, And in my breast there lodges all I blame, Diminished merely in its scope and span, In it’s essential qualities the same.” There are SO many variations of this it is a bit mind-boggling. I think searching the bible for pieces of the text (you can’t search for a whole poem), you’ll find its origin.
I found pieces of it, but not the whole thing. So probably Biblical, Old Testament — possibly Genesis AND because much of the old testament was turned into section of the Gospels, it might be in both. This might have been turned into a poem, but by whom I could not find out. Good luck in your searches! There are a LOT of biblical search engines. If you are determined and have time to spend doing it, I think you’ll eventually find it.
Thank you so kindly Marilyn! This is really good feedback and information. More than I hoped for. Dickinson rings a bell. BOING! Emily Dickerson. I was completely unaware of any connection to the Bible. I think this will allow to find it. If so, I will post the entire poem here. And attempt to RE-memorize it properly! LOL.
Onward.