| Arthur Quiller-Couch, comp. The Oxford Book of Victorian Verse. 1922. | | | | Soul and Body | | By Samuel Waddington (1844–1923) |
| | | WHERE wert thou, Soul, ere yet my body born | |
| Became thy dwelling place? Didst thou on earth, | |
| Or in the clouds, await this body’s birth? | |
| Or by what chance upon that winter’s morn | |
| Didst thou this body find, a babe forlorn? | 5 |
| Didst thou in sorrow enter, or in mirth? | |
| Or for a jest, perchance, to try its worth | |
| Thou tookest flesh, ne’er from it to be torn? | |
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| Nay, Soul, I will not mock thee; well I know | |
| Thou wert not on the earth, nor in the sky; | 10 |
| For with my body’s growth thou too didst grow; | |
| But with that body’s death wilt thou too die? | |
| I know not, and thou canst not tell me, so | |
| In doubt we’ll go together—thou and I. | | | | |
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