Vigil and vision :: :: University of Virginia Library

MESEEMS, the World-Faust, through the ages' night,
Upon the courser of the Will-to-be,
Hurtling across Life's darkling plains I see.
Deaf are his ears and blinded is his sight;
He turneth not aside to left or right;
Nay, through the shadows and the darkness, he,
The Mephistophiles Democracy
Spurring, ensueth still his headlong flight.
He noteth not the spectres of the Past,
That on his either hand for warning rise;
He heedeth not the snakes of doom that hiss
About him nor the portents in the skies;
But, at the demon's instance, hard and fast,
Urgeth, unchecked, his course to the abyss.