Response to George MacDonald
Bless’d Master, your offering received. I find lined
Seed which feeds my old soul and inset—
Within my heart the Muse that grew entwined
To Thee. In this book we first met.
A friend, a mentor within you I found indeed:—
We wrestled, we conversed. I seen in you the Seed
And Water, in which our souls will eternally feed.
YOUR KINDRED SPIRIT
Response to George MacDonald—In 1880, George MacDonald self-published a collection of 366 devotional poems, one for each day of the year, including leap years. The original title was “A Book of Strife in the Form of the Diary of an Old Soul.” The Diary was initially printed with a blank page facing every page of poetry so that readers could supplement Macdonald’s diary with their own. This poem is a response to the poem of dedication (found below).
Bless’d—Revelation 14:13.
Master—C.S. Lewis called George MacDonald his “master.” For Lewis, this title of respect signified MacDonald’s impact on his faith, thought, and writing. About George MacDonald, Lewis said: “I know hardly any other writer who seems to be closer, to more continually close, to the Spirit of Christ Himself!” (found in the preface to his anthology, George MacDonald: An Anthology).
Muse—Psalm 45:1; 87:7.
In this book—Diary of an Old Soul by George MacDonald.
Water—John 4:10, 7:38
Supplemental Resources
The following is the dedication poem in George MacDonald’s book, Diary of an Old Soul, which inspired the preceding verse.
DEDICATION
Sweet friends, receive my offering. You will find
Against each worded page a white page set:—
This is the mirror of each friendly mind
Reflecting that. In this book we are met.
Make it, dear hearts, of worth to you indeed:—
Let your white page be ground, my print be seed,
Gowing to Golden ears, that faith and hope shall feed.
YOUR OLD SOUL
