Ambergris

AMBERGRIS 41 Light is extended. I and Thou Are as they had not been. So on my head the light is one, Unity manifest ; A star more splended than the sun Burns for my crown’d crest ; Burns, as the murmuring orison Of waters in the west. What angel from the silver gate Flames to my fierier face ? What angel, as I contemplate The unsubstantial space, Move with my lips the laws of Fate That bind earth’s carapace ? No angel, but the very light And fire and spirit of Her, Unmitigated, eremite, The unmanifested myrrh, Ocean, and night that is not night, The mother-mediator. O sacred spirit of the Gods ! O triple tongue ! Descend, Lapping the answering flame that nods, Kissing the brows that bend, Uniting all earth’s periods To one exalted end ! Still on the mystic Tree of Life My soul is crucified : Still strikes the sacrificial knife Where lurks some serpent-eyed Fear, passion, or man’s deadly wife Desire, the suicide !