 | Stones from The Quarry |  |
271
THE SUPERNATURAL.
We little Men! we crave for miracles;
Something to stare at, to lift up our eyes
And hands in wonder at; as when ghosts rise
At wave of Sorcerer's wand, or ocular spells
Raise up the Dead, or some strange portent tells
Of Nature's order dislocate. We prize
And cherish such poor wonderments, while skies,
And stars, and earth are as dumb oracles,
The true, real wonder is so wondersome,
So far above, beyond us, that it is
No wonder to the many, who go dumb,
Deaf, blind therein, and thereof all sense miss:
Only to greatest minds doth vaguely come,
Like vision of the night, faint sense of this.
Something to stare at, to lift up our eyes
And hands in wonder at; as when ghosts rise
At wave of Sorcerer's wand, or ocular spells
Raise up the Dead, or some strange portent tells
Of Nature's order dislocate. We prize
And cherish such poor wonderments, while skies,
And stars, and earth are as dumb oracles,
The true, real wonder is so wondersome,
So far above, beyond us, that it is
No wonder to the many, who go dumb,
Deaf, blind therein, and thereof all sense miss:
Only to greatest minds doth vaguely come,
Like vision of the night, faint sense of this.
Ay, like a nightmare of the soul, dim, dread,
Even to such, the mightiest of brain,
Who look before and after, and attain
God's lesser heights. Like children they have read
The star-traced scroll, and spelled His name there, spread
Endless, beginningless, again, again,
“Incomprehensible;” till Thought would strain
And snap, like an attenuated thread!
So then they lost all hold, and backward fell,
Clutching at straws like drowning men, to stay
Their fall to Nothingness, the only Hell,
Lost in the wondrous maze Mind's feeble ray
Serves but to make the darkness visible,
Just light enough to show they've lost their way!
Even to such, the mightiest of brain,
Who look before and after, and attain
God's lesser heights. Like children they have read
The star-traced scroll, and spelled His name there, spread
Endless, beginningless, again, again,
“Incomprehensible;” till Thought would strain
And snap, like an attenuated thread!
So then they lost all hold, and backward fell,
Clutching at straws like drowning men, to stay
Their fall to Nothingness, the only Hell,
Lost in the wondrous maze Mind's feeble ray
Serves but to make the darkness visible,
Just light enough to show they've lost their way!
| Stones from The Quarry | |