Poems By William Bell Scott. Ballads, Studies from Nature, Sonnets, etc. Illustrated by Seventeen Etchings by the Author and L. Alma Tadema |
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DEVELOPMENT IN NATURE.
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XIII
DEVELOPMENT IN NATURE.
Walled up in sense, we know no general plan:
Æons long past creative power went on,
Evolving lights and forces round the throne,
And in the ordered nucleus of the plan
Blossomed and brightened the umbrageous span
Of this our world, beneath the Fates' fell care,
The Tree of Life outspreading everywhere,
And seedling fruits from short-lived blooms began.
Æons long past creative power went on,
Evolving lights and forces round the throne,
And in the ordered nucleus of the plan
Blossomed and brightened the umbrageous span
Of this our world, beneath the Fates' fell care,
The Tree of Life outspreading everywhere,
And seedling fruits from short-lived blooms began.
Have these old mysteries ceased? from fiery steeps,
From deepening swamps the mute snake writhed along;
Anon the bird screamed—then the furred beast creeps
Growling; then Adam speaks erect and strong.
Shall there not rise again from Nature's deeps
One more, whose voice shall be the perfect song?
From deepening swamps the mute snake writhed along;
Anon the bird screamed—then the furred beast creeps
Growling; then Adam speaks erect and strong.
Shall there not rise again from Nature's deeps
One more, whose voice shall be the perfect song?
| Poems | |