My body having encountered with a soul,
Be it my body’s care to cherish whole
The thing it holds in trust, nor once deny
Ears to receive its faintest ghostly cry,
Nor count the large advantage of the hour
Aught in the scale beside the tiniest flower
Breathed of the spirit, nor make dim its eyes
To simple truths with things the world names wise.
Knowing too well my body’s great unworth
Such essence to contain and clothe with earth,
I dare not be unworthier than I must
Lest this my soul be clogged with this my dust,
And that wherefor I owe most gratitude
Shall in the end the caging clay elude,
More soiled and more despoiled, more dragged and sad
Than was the thing from God my body had.
Even as flame consumes its husk of coal
The self must be consumèd by the soul
Till liberate from ash it leaps again,
Light seeking light, beyond the vision of men,
All that is counted I being cast adrift
Before the universe in me can lift
Up to its level of divinity:
Since therefore it has once befallen me
Wondrously for a little space to be
The vessel to whose charge the highest is given,
Pure as I may I’ll render it to heaven.
Poem by Eleanor Farjeon
Meaning of the Poem ‘Dedication‘ by Eleanor Farjeon
Eleanor Farjeon’s “Dedication” is a solemn, reverent reflection on the relationship between body and soul, and the profound responsibility that comes with housing something divine within the self. The speaker, awed by the soul entrusted to their care, commits to honouring it with humility, vigilance, and purity. Aware of the body’s limitations and unworthiness, they vow to live in a way that does not taint or burden the soul it shelters.
The poem draws a sharp contrast between worldly values – ambition, intellect, material success – and the soul’s quiet, spiritual truths. The speaker refuses to let the demands of the physical world dull their sensitivity to the soul’s whisper or distract them from its needs. There is an urgent sense of moral responsibility: to not live carefully would be to betray something sacred.
Farjeon employs the powerful image of flame and coal to illustrate the soul’s ultimate goal: transcendence. Just as fire consumes coal to be freed as light, so must the self be consumed by the soul until it is released, purified, and able to reunite with the divine. The poem ends with the speaker’s vow to return their soul as pure as possible, dedicating their life not to personal gain but to the faithful stewardship of this inner light.
Ultimately, “Dedication” is a spiritual pledge: a call to live with integrity, simplicity, and reverence for the divine presence within, so that the soul may rise unburdened and radiant, back to its source.
