The Hound of Heaven by Francis Thompson

The Hound of Heaven, Francis Thompson. Burns & Oates, Ltd., London. No date, but possibly 1907 and likely not the first printing of this edition. Thompson’s poem covers 9 pages with additional pages, including a frontispiece, introduction, handwriting sample, and ads. Good condition. Small paperback with flaps. The cover has an errant pen mark, and the back some soiling. Bright and clean pages with deckled fore edges.

Paramahansa Yogananda often quoted from this poem and includes a section of it in a footnote in the final chapter of Autobiography of a Yogi: “That voice is round me like a bursting sea: / ‘And is thy earth so marred, / Shattered in shard on shard? / Lo, all things fly thee, for thou fliest Me! / All which I took from thee I did but take, / Not for thy harms, / But just that thou mightest seek it in My arms. / All which thy child’s mistake / Fancied as lost, I have stored for thee at home. / Rise, clasp my hand, and come!'” And the first lines of the poem are included in a footnote of Paramahansaji’s The Second Coming of Christ. He also recited part of Thompson’s poem in a recording that is included on Songs of My Heart: Chants, Poems, and Prayers. This little booklet is the same version displayed in the SRF Lake Shrine Museum.