University of Virginia Library


191

Thomas the Rhymer.

Listen, O spirit of that ancient bard!
Thou weird Ezekiel of an age of lies
And human fantasy! If 'neath the skies
One being liveth, worthy to be heard,
Whisper the awful sesame that unstarr'd
To thee the riddle of those mysteries,
Dumb evermore to gazing of all eyes
Mortal and uninspired! O thou that warr'd
With man and custom, I do think of thee
As something of a glory, something grand
Beyond what ever satisfied this land
With earnest of a strange divinity,
Penn'd in thy passionately-breathing moods,
Prophetic peopler of old solitudes!