 | The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes |  |
AN INVOCATION
(TRANSLATED FROM THE ARABIC)
“Awake! Awake!
Spirits of air!”
Spirits of air!”
“We sleep by day, and we watch by night,
And we flash on the darkness in meteor-light;
But a shade is over the mortal eye,
And it sees us not as we hurry by,
Well do we know that voice of thine,
We hear the word, and we see the sign.”
And we flash on the darkness in meteor-light;
But a shade is over the mortal eye,
And it sees us not as we hurry by,
Well do we know that voice of thine,
We hear the word, and we see the sign.”
“Awake! Awake!
Spirits of Fire,
Come from the glow of the flames below,
And gather around your sire.”
Spirits of Fire,
Come from the glow of the flames below,
And gather around your sire.”
“We come, we come as the lightening flies,
With the treasured wrath of the brooding skies,
When it leaps from the cloud on the murderer's head,
And tears the shroud from the guilty dead,
And rips the sail from the quivering mast
As it rocks on the billow and bows in the blast;
We come, we come, we dare not stay
For we heard the sound that we all obey.”
With the treasured wrath of the brooding skies,
When it leaps from the cloud on the murderer's head,
And tears the shroud from the guilty dead,
And rips the sail from the quivering mast
As it rocks on the billow and bows in the blast;
We come, we come, we dare not stay
For we heard the sound that we all obey.”
“Spirits of earth, Awake! Awake!
Your master calls—from your sunless halls,
Come, ere the thunders break.”
Your master calls—from your sunless halls,
Come, ere the thunders break.”
“We come, we come at the dreadful sign
From the crystal cave, and the golden mine,
Where the gathered rays of the diamond gleam,
And the ruby burns with its crimson beam;
Where, for long ages, our treasures we look
In the womb of the cavern, the heart of the rock,
We come, for we know the voice that flings
The chain that can fetter our sable wings.”
From the crystal cave, and the golden mine,
Where the gathered rays of the diamond gleam,
And the ruby burns with its crimson beam;
Where, for long ages, our treasures we look
In the womb of the cavern, the heart of the rock,
We come, for we know the voice that flings
The chain that can fetter our sable wings.”
“Spirits of ocean, come around,
For ye have heard the mystic word,
And well ye know the sound.”
For ye have heard the mystic word,
And well ye know the sound.”
“We come, we come from the gloomy wave
Where we float along by the sailor's grave,
And cling to the spars of the shattered wreck,
And build our thrones on the voiceless deck,
And where in the bright green ocean ray,
With shapes of the stormy deep we play,
We come, for we know the sounds that ride
Through the howl of the wind and the sweep of the tide.”
Where we float along by the sailor's grave,
And cling to the spars of the shattered wreck,
And build our thrones on the voiceless deck,
And where in the bright green ocean ray,
With shapes of the stormy deep we play,
We come, for we know the sounds that ride
Through the howl of the wind and the sweep of the tide.”
| The Poetical Works of Oliver Wendell Holmes | |