88. The Goddess’s Song from ‘Al Aaraaf’

SPIRIT! that dwellest where,

In the deep sky,

The terrible and fair,

In beauty vie!

Beyond the line of blue—

The boundary of the star

Which turneth at the view

Of thy barrier and thy bar—

Of the barrier overgone

By the comets who were cast

From their pride and from their throne

To be drudges till the last—

To be carriers of fire

(The red fire of their heart)

With speed that may not tire

And with pain that shall not part—

Who livest—that we know—

In Eternity—we feel—

But the shadow of whose brow

What spirit shall reveal?

Though the beings whom thy Nesace,

Thy messenger hath known,

Have dreamed for thy Infinity

A model of their own—

Thy will is done, O God!

The star hath ridden high

Through many a tempest, but she rode

Beneath thy burning eye;

And here, in thought, to thee—

In thought that can alone

Ascend thy empire, and so be

A partner of thy throne—

By wingèd Fantasy,

My embassy is given,

Till secrecy shall knowledge be

In the environs of Heaven.