University of Virginia Library


289

THE SECRET GATE

From out the dark of sleep I rose, on the wings of desire:
“Give me the joy of sight,” I cried, “O Master of Hidden Fire!”
And a Voice said: Wait
Till you pass the Gate.
“Give me the joy of sight,” I cried, “O Master of Hidden Fire!
By the flame in the heart of the soul, grant my desire!”
And a Voice said: Wait
Till you pass the Gate.
I shook the dark with the tremulous beat of my wings of desire:
“Give me but once the thing I ask, O Master of Hidden Fire!”
And a Voice said: Wait!
You have reached the Gate.
I rose from flame to flame on pinions of desire:
And I heard the voice of the Master of Hidden Fire:
Behold the Flaming Gate,
Where Sight doth wait!

290

Like a wandering star I fell through the deeps of desire,
And back through the portals of sleep the Master of Hidden Fire
Thundered: Await
The opening of the Gate!
But now I pray, now I pray, with passionate desire:
“Blind me, O blind me, Master of Hidden Fire,
I supplicate,
Ope not the Gate.”