Jephthah and Other Mysteries

LYRICAL AND DRAMATIC. 191 Of space, for being the centre of all things, Time is to us the Now, and Space the Here ; From us all Matter radiates, is a part , Of our own thoughts and souls ; because we love. Thou shudderest, clinging to me; though the night Jewels her empire with the frosty crown Of thousand-twinkling stars, whose hoary crests Burn where light touches them, with diamond points Of infinite far fire, save where the sea Is ebony with sleep, and though the wind Pierces the marrow, since it is the word Of the Almighty, and cuts through the air That may not stay its fury, with a cold Nipping and chill, it is not in the wind ; Nor though the thunder broke, or flashed the fire From all the circle of eternity, Were that the reason ; for thou shudderest To hear the Voice of Love; it is no voice That men may hear, but an intensest rich Silence, that silence when man waits to hear The faintest vibrance in the smitten air, And, if he hear not, die; but we who love Are beyond death, and therefore may commune In that still tongue; it is the holy speech And song of stars and sun; nor is it marred By one dissentient tremor of the air That girds the earth, but in lone zther spreads ' Its song; but now I turn to thee, whose eyes Blaze on me with such look as flesh and blood May never see and live ; for so it burns