Manifold, mighty, monstrous, no light giving
Unto the soul that is not also light ;—
We rise in ghastly power ; we know the token,
The speech of silence and the song unspoken.
ORPHEUS
Come forth to the sound,
Ye lustres of years
That hide in profound
Abysses of fears,
Hidden and bound!
The voice of tears
Implores and impels ye, O lustres, with a tune that is
strong as a seer’s.
THE LUSTRES
Fivefold the shape sublime that lifts its head
Uniform, self-repeating, comparable
At last to a man’s life: twice seven times dead
Ere the light flickers in that citadel,
Or the great whiteness lure his soul instead
Of many-coloured earth: ere the strong spell
Fail, and the Fates with iron-shapen shears
Cut the frail silver, hide him from the years.
Fivefold: the year that is in darkness hidden,
Being beginning: then the moving year,
All change and tumult ; then the quiet unchidden
Of deep reflection; then the gladdening tear
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