54 
AMBERGRIS 
 
 
 
 
FROM TANNHÄUSER 
 
Tannhäuser’s Song 
 
In the Beginning God began 
And saw the Night of Time begin ; 
Chaos, a speck ;  and space, a span ; 
Ruinous cycles fallen in, 
And Darkness on the Deep of Time. 
Murmurous voices call and climb ; 
Faces, half-formed, arise ;  and He 
Looked from the shadow of His throne, 
The curtain of Eternity ; 
He looked—and saw Himself alone, 
And on the sombre sea, the primal one, 
Faint faces, that might not abide ; 
Flicker, and are fordone. 
So were they caught within the spacious tide, 
The sleepy waters that encased the world 
Monsters rose up, and turned themselves, and curled 
Into the deep again. 
 
The darkness brooded, and the bitter pain 
Of chaos twisted the vast limbs of time 
In horrid rackings :  then the spasm came : 
The Serpent rose, the servant of the slime, 
In one dark miracle of flame 
Unluminous and void :  the silent claim 
Of that which was, to be :  the cry to climb, 
The bitter birth of Nature :  uttermost Night 
Dwelt, inaccessible to sound and sight ; 
Shielded from Voice, impervious to Light. 
 
Lo !  on the barren bosom, on the brine, 
The spirit of the Mighty One arose, 
A flickering light, a formless triple flame,