 | Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious |  |
58
A VISION OF THE PRESENT.
I dreamed I lived in ages long ago—
The time I recollect not, nor the place—
Among a people in whose veins did flow
Blood of the heaven-besieging Titan race,
Though human were their mothers: in the glow
Of their bright eyes I could discern the trace
Of their high ancestry and glorious dower
Of magic knowledge and gigantic power.
The time I recollect not, nor the place—
Among a people in whose veins did flow
Blood of the heaven-besieging Titan race,
Though human were their mothers: in the glow
Of their bright eyes I could discern the trace
Of their high ancestry and glorious dower
Of magic knowledge and gigantic power.
The elements to vassalage they brought,
And made them toil as slaves, by ceaseless war;
Even fire himself, with daring hands, they caught
And tamed, and yoked him to the flying car;
The lightning's flash with line and bait they sought,
And, like the genie in the copper jar,
They held it under bolts and bars restrained,
Or, when they pleased, its violence unchained.
And made them toil as slaves, by ceaseless war;
Even fire himself, with daring hands, they caught
And tamed, and yoked him to the flying car;
The lightning's flash with line and bait they sought,
And, like the genie in the copper jar,
They held it under bolts and bars restrained,
Or, when they pleased, its violence unchained.
They weighed the Sun against the Moon; they cast
The plummet into heaven's abyss profound,
Sounding its depths; the fleetness of the blast
They measured, and the speed of light and sound;
They searched through plains and mountains, and at last
Creation's history graved in rock they found,
And learned to read the wondrous tales it told
Of monstrous forms that haunted earth of old.
The plummet into heaven's abyss profound,
Sounding its depths; the fleetness of the blast
They measured, and the speed of light and sound;
They searched through plains and mountains, and at last
Creation's history graved in rock they found,
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Of monstrous forms that haunted earth of old.
They built a magic chamber, wherein all
That ever did before its window stand,
Unerringly upon the enchanted wall
Was painted by a spirit's viewless hand.
And ships they had that calms could ne'er enthral,
That still obeyed the mariner's command,
And, by an innate power of life, defied
The adverse struggling force of wind and tide.
That ever did before its window stand,
Unerringly upon the enchanted wall
Was painted by a spirit's viewless hand.
And ships they had that calms could ne'er enthral,
That still obeyed the mariner's command,
And, by an innate power of life, defied
The adverse struggling force of wind and tide.
And slaves they had with arms of iron made,
Strong as a thousand men, who tireless bore
The heaviest loads, and toiled at every trade:
Some blew the forge, some drew to light the ore,
Some ploughed, some spun and wove; one, with a head
Of steel and brass, could calculate far more
From sunrise to the fall of eve, than man
Could calculate in half a lifetime's span.
Strong as a thousand men, who tireless bore
The heaviest loads, and toiled at every trade:
Some blew the forge, some drew to light the ore,
Some ploughed, some spun and wove; one, with a head
Of steel and brass, could calculate far more
From sunrise to the fall of eve, than man
Could calculate in half a lifetime's span.
And heralds these magicians had, that spoke
With voice of lightning and magnetic tongue
Across the world.
With voice of lightning and magnetic tongue
Across the world.
At last my slumber broke—
I think it was a railway bell that rung.
Before me rose a steamboat's cloud of smoke,
A telegraphic wire above me hung;
And, starting from my wonder-dream, I found
All I had fancied, in the world around.
I think it was a railway bell that rung.
Before me rose a steamboat's cloud of smoke,
A telegraphic wire above me hung;
And, starting from my wonder-dream, I found
All I had fancied, in the world around.
| Sonnets and Other Poems Chiefly Religious | |