 | The Lay of the Stork |  |
'Tis said, when in the fountain's wave
The Prophet bent, his head to lave,
His soul went on for countless years,
Throughout all space, through all the spheres,
From world to world, from pole to pole,
And learnt the mysteries of the whole.
He saw how rubies have their birth,
And how the acorn grows in earth,
How pearls are formed in Ocean's breast,
How builds the Auk her giant nest:
Saw all the caves where tempests lurk,
And how the hot volcanoes work;
Yet—to attain such wondrous lore,
Seem'd but one plunge, and nothing more!
So thought through past and future speeds
Nor space, nor time, nor motion needs.
The Prophet bent, his head to lave,
The manner in which Mohammed was caught away and carried through the Seven Heavens, is one of the questions which has been much discussed and disputed. Some thinking he went bodily and returned the same night; others contending that his journey was only in a vision. Some say it was begun and ended while a vase full of water, was in the act of being overturned, before all had fallen to the ground.—See Koran.
His soul went on for countless years,
Throughout all space, through all the spheres,
From world to world, from pole to pole,
And learnt the mysteries of the whole.
He saw how rubies have their birth,
And how the acorn grows in earth,
How pearls are formed in Ocean's breast,
How builds the Auk her giant nest:
Saw all the caves where tempests lurk,
And how the hot volcanoes work;
54
Seem'd but one plunge, and nothing more!
So thought through past and future speeds
Nor space, nor time, nor motion needs.
| The Lay of the Stork | |