Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/146

110 The first experience will not fail;

Only two in the garden walked,

And with snake and seraph talked.

Close, close to men,

Like undulating layer of air,

Right above their heads,

The potent plain of Dæmons spreads.

Stands to each human soul its own,

For watch and ward and furtherance,

In the snares of Nature's dance;

And the lustre and the grace

To fascinate each youthful heart,

Beaming from its counterpart,

Translucent through the mortal covers,

Is the Dæmon's form and face.

To and fro the Genius hies,—

A gleam which plays and hovers

Over the maiden's head,

And dips sometimes as low as to her eyes.

Unknown, albeit lying near,

To men, the path to the Dæmon sphere;

And they that swiftly come and go

Leave no track on the heavenly snow.

Sometimes the airy synod bends,

And the mighty choir descends,

And the brains of men thenceforth,

In crowded and in still resorts,

Teem with unwonted thoughts: