Who am I?

I am the world, in me the ages dwell,

The saint who walks the earth with bleeding feet

The soldier on the battlefield of hell

Dying in his column's vain retreat.

I am the pilgrim ever seeking peace,

The sinner lost to dark and sated deeps,

The master's cur who lives alone to please,

The seaman's wife who fearful vigil keeps.

I am a thousand prayers that soar to thee,

The curses of the multitudes of hate,

The children sold into a slavery

Far worse than death by an uncaring fate.

I am the sun who yields to night's caress,

The moon of solitude who bids us dream

And dreaming touch within a tenderness

That hangs its hope upon the daybreak's gleam.

Yet who am I silent and alone

Who knows not past and to the future blind,

I am the all in all and yet am none

I am the riddle of all humankind.