University of Virginia Library

The generations of immortal soul,
High soul irradiating earthly veils
With virginal translucence . . .

Once again
That pungent perfume, changing every step
And sweet in each mutation! Does it come
From orchards nigh me, from the garden close,
Or clover meadows? . . . It is evening breath
Of Nature, lapsing towards her night's repose,
In bridal splendour of the latest spring
Right royally invested. How all life
Expands within it, and is bathed therein!—
Deep, deep it drinks. . . .

What golden gates unbar!
What cryptic springs of melody unseal!
I float serenely up life's lucent stream
Into the furthest past. I see thy soul
Serenely dwelling in its fontal home—
A spiritual mansion bright and blest,
A phœnix-home of immortality
And morning joy. The golden rule of life
Evolves from out the pure, subjective state,
A portion of thy nature into form.
The inner essence, taking outward shape
Of holy choirs made visible, accords
With that divine and individual thought
Eternal Cause had consciously express'd
To bring thee into being. . . . Is it well
To call thee fair, to say thy mien is high?
I see thy perfect, superhuman mode,
Like poetry in happy music clothed,
But thine unbonded, quintessential part
Wears human guise alone for human thought.
I sense thy presence in the sphere of mind,
Yet know not what thou art; I call on thee,
And thou respondest in the brightest shape
Supreme imagination pictures, based
On human types. I see thy haunting eyes,
Like evening's grey from Heaven's eternal hills
View'd in a holy trance. Their deeps unfold,
Like fragrant spaces. Poised on eager wings,
I see thy timeless origin express'd
In spiritual symbols—a pure spark
In the electric ocean of God's light. . . .
Support the dreamer now, ye mighty downs,
Thou scarlet sunset, draped in formless cloud;
Pinewoods and wilderness and windy peaks;
Ye shadow-haunted prospects far prolong'd;
Thou, deep'ning night! ... An inner impulse prompts
That point of light; above the burning sea
Lifting itself, a radiant globe it grows,
And down creation's stream of forming life
So glimmers into outward consciousness.
At first one thought intent, through ages long,
Revolves about itself; the depths and heights
Of its own nature, in the stillness, spans,
While contacts form'd with God at either end,
Pulse and vibrate therein. The tide of thought
Turns outward now; sense-music charms it on,
Desire and will unite; a secret change
Gives psychic shape, and in a world of souls—
Diaphanously draped, with wide, white wings,
One torch-like star, from pale and lofty brow
Diffusing light—with auburn hair unbound
In rainbow ripples—thus I picture thee.