| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 138. Lost and Found |
| By George Mac Donald (1824–1905) |
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| I MISSED him when the sun began to bend; | |
| I found him not when I had lost his rim; | |
| With many tears I went in search of him, | |
| Climbing high mountains which did still ascend, | |
| And gave me echoes when I called my friend; | 5 |
| Through cities vast and charnel-houses grim, | |
| And high cathedrals where the light was dim, | |
| Through books and arts and works without an end, | |
| But found him not—the friend whom I had lost. | |
| And yet I found him—as I found the lark, | 10 |
| A sound in fields I heard but could not mark; | |
| I found him nearest when I missed him most; | |
| I found him in my heart, a life in frost, | |
| A light I knew not till my soul was dark. | |
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