Page:Poems, Alan Seeger, 1916.djvu/168

 As when, reclining on some verdant hill—

What season the hot sun least veils his power

That lightens all, and in that gloaming hour

The fly resigns to the shrill gnat—even then,

As rustic, looking down, sees, o'er the glen,

Vineyard, or tilth where lies his husbandry,

Fireflies innumerable sparkle: so to me,

Come where its mighty depth unfolded, straight

With flames no fewer seemed to scintillate

The shades of the eighth pit. And as to him

Whose wrongs the bears avenged, dim and more dim

Elijah's chariot seemed, when to the skies

Uprose the heavenly steeds; and still his eyes

Strained, following them, till naught remained in view

But flame, like a thin cloud against the blue:

So here, the melancholy gulf within,

Wandered these flames, concealing each its sin,

Yet each, a fiery integument,

Wrapped round a sinner.

On the bridge intent,

Gazing I stood, and grasped its flinty side,

Or else, unpushed, had fallen. And my guide,

Observing me so moved, spake, saying: "Behold

Where swathed each in his unconsuming fold,

The spirits lie confined." Whom answering,

"Master," I said, "thy words assurance bring

To that which I already had supposed;

And I was fain to ask who lies enclosed 118