XVIII
MUNDA COR MEUM
Though it is impossible to recall the past, the future can
at least be moulded newly in respect of our plans concerning
it.
The Enkindling Stone
Come, let us pledge the heart to purer life,
Thrusting the past behind, with all it holds
Of fair and dark! Come, take with stalwart front
The future! Thither—to the mountain heights!—
We yet shall meet the messenger divine,
Standing serene in some uplifted place,
On which the stars shed influence, whereon
Do moon and sun concur. His hands shall hold
The shining stone inscribed with secret words,
Which hallow lips for prophecy and give
Not only tidings true but sense thereof.
Man is native to the beights, and the burden of his
normal life is a difficulty of respiration in the deeps to
which he does not belong by his origin.
