Spindrift :: :: University of Virginia Library

In the unsullied Eden of my youth
Fearless I walked with angels, side by side,
Hearing the rivers of Eternal Truth
Pour their celestial music, far and wide.

But sin, the serpent, beautiful and vile,
Stole in among the lilies while I slept,
And when I woke the heavens had ceased to smile,
The streams were songless, and the angels wept.

Gathered from every side—above—beneath,
A silence, heavy with the voice of Fate;
And utter darkness on my soul like death
Descended, as I groped towards the gate

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In shame and fear. It opened—shut. And now
Outcast I lie; while through the rayless gloom,
With silvery sibilations bland and low,
The subtle Tempter lures to deadlier doom.

Oh, treacherous heart! Oh, weak, inconstant will!
Oh, heaven-born soul, with earth-polluted wings!
Listening thou loath'st, but loathing listenest still
To the insidious song the reptile sings:

“The world hath Pleasure—Glory—Wealth to give;
Stretch forth your hands and grasp them while you may:
For the night cometh. Quaff while yet you live
The wine of life—nor trust a future day!”

But—like a silver larum-bell that rings
High o'er a wreck-strewn coast—my spirit hears,
Above the serpent-song, far whisperings
Of angel voices from departed years.

And through the lessening darkness, from above
I feel the warm touch of a wounded hand,
And see a thorn-wreathed brow and eyes of love
Bent o'er me; and can dimly understand

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Their mystic import—as the frozen earth,
Touched by the sun, of coming flowers may dream,—
So the sweet presage of some wondrous birth
Flushes my soul with iridescent gleam.

And from its depths ascends the anguished cry:
“Draw me, O Lord, and I will follow Thee;
I cannot rise: in triple chains I lie—
Come Thou, O Holy One, and set me free!”