 | Fantasy and Passion |  |
THE COMET.
Long ages, with slow change of regions and races
Through all the proud breadths of this planet-sown sky,
Have fled since God fashioned, to roam its great spaces,
This fiery grandeur and speed that is I.
He dowered my frame with a vigor that urges
Its obdurate heart in unwearying flight;
He robed me with vapor whose luminous verges
Trail wide on the dark awful hollows of night!
Through all the proud breadths of this planet-sown sky,
Have fled since God fashioned, to roam its great spaces,
This fiery grandeur and speed that is I.
He dowered my frame with a vigor that urges
Its obdurate heart in unwearying flight;
He robed me with vapor whose luminous verges
Trail wide on the dark awful hollows of night!
But ever before me, in dubious distance,
Among dread dominions that stellar throngs fill,
Through breathless inanimate voids whose existence
Looks one solemn nothingness frigid and still,
A spirit flies on where the gloom spreads immensely,
Her garments like mine in pale splendor outflung,
Unseen save by perishing gleams yet intensely
Adored of my soul since creation was young!
Among dread dominions that stellar throngs fill,
Through breathless inanimate voids whose existence
Looks one solemn nothingness frigid and still,
A spirit flies on where the gloom spreads immensely,
Her garments like mine in pale splendor outflung,
Unseen save by perishing gleams yet intensely
Adored of my soul since creation was young!
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One loath to be loved, irresponsive, unheeding;
One swayed by deep fervor and eager appeal;
One ever with fugitive brilliance receding,
One following always with radiant zeal,
For æons untold we have ceaselessly darted
Where vacancy's torpors of blackness lie mute,
Together, yet millions of mighty leagues parted,
A terrible flight, an appalling pursuit!
One swayed by deep fervor and eager appeal;
One ever with fugitive brilliance receding,
One following always with radiant zeal,
For æons untold we have ceaselessly darted
Where vacancy's torpors of blackness lie mute,
Together, yet millions of mighty leagues parted,
A terrible flight, an appalling pursuit!
Past intricate systems that view me in wonder
And put with their brightness my own beams to scorn;
Through tracts where the volleying asteroids thunder;
Past nebulous orbs that are yet to be born.
By suns that in richest of colors throb vivid,
Or blaze with twin glory, star thrilling to star;
By ruins of old worlds burnt sickly and livid,
Her misty magnificence guides me afar!
And put with their brightness my own beams to scorn;
Through tracts where the volleying asteroids thunder;
Past nebulous orbs that are yet to be born.
By suns that in richest of colors throb vivid,
Or blaze with twin glory, star thrilling to star;
By ruins of old worlds burnt sickly and livid,
Her misty magnificence guides me afar!
Some globes, ever flaming in hot conflagration,
Give forth deadly blasts from their lurid red hells;
O'er some broods the curse of severe desolation,
Of stagnant repose where no living thing dwells;
In some there are monsters whom nature has given
Strange horrors of outline terrific to see;
Some hang like vast tears dropping always through heaven,
From pole unto pole shoreless volumes of sea!
Give forth deadly blasts from their lurid red hells;
O'er some broods the curse of severe desolation,
Of stagnant repose where no living thing dwells;
In some there are monsters whom nature has given
Strange horrors of outline terrific to see;
Some hang like vast tears dropping always through heaven,
From pole unto pole shoreless volumes of sea!
In some I behold haughty palaces tower;
In some are low caverns of rough-shapen clay;
Some bear noble cities of opulent power;
Some bear cities rotting in slothful decay;
In some there are creatures crime-soiled beyond telling;
In others, where life wins its loftiest goal,
With stately tranquility mortals are dwelling,
Like gods in their beauty, and stainless of soul!
In some are low caverns of rough-shapen clay;
Some bear noble cities of opulent power;
Some bear cities rotting in slothful decay;
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In others, where life wins its loftiest goal,
With stately tranquility mortals are dwelling,
Like gods in their beauty, and stainless of soul!
But while through celestial infinitudes fleeting,
Along these weird courses enormous in scope,
Of golden attainment and rapturous meeting
I dare not to question—I dare but to hope!
The drift of God's purpose, obscure past all seeing,
What voice of what prophet hath spoken or sung?
And so in blind passion I chase this wild being,
Adored of my soul since creation was young!
Along these weird courses enormous in scope,
Of golden attainment and rapturous meeting
I dare not to question—I dare but to hope!
The drift of God's purpose, obscure past all seeing,
What voice of what prophet hath spoken or sung?
And so in blind passion I chase this wild being,
Adored of my soul since creation was young!
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