Orpheus

Of time: the hateful laugh where whoredom trod ; The savage snarl of man against his friend :— How should he (such an one) perceive the end, Or listen to the voice of Nature, know it for the voice of God ? EPODE NATURE Lo! in the interstellar space of night, Clothed with deep darkness, the majestic spaces Abide the dawn of deity and light, Vibrate before the passionless pale faces Shrined in exceeding glory, eremite. The tortoise skies in sombre carapaces Await the expression and the hour of birth In silence through the adamantine girth. I rose in glory, gathered of the foam. The sea’s flower folded, charioting me risen Where dawn’s rose stole from its pearl-glimmering home, And heaven laughed, and earth: and mine old prison, The seas that lay beneath the mighty dome, Shone with my splendour. Light did first bedizen Earth with its clusters of fiery dew and spray, When I looked forth and cried “It is the day!” _ The stars are dewdrops on my bosom’s space; The sun and moon are glances through my lashes, 100