Page:Poems, Household Edition, Emerson, 1904.djvu/59

Rh Yawns the pit of the Dragon,

Lit by rays from the Blest.

The Lethe of Nature

Can't trance him again,

Whose soul sees the perfect,

Which his eyes seek in vain.

To vision profounder,

Man's spirit must dive;

His aye-rolling orb

At no goal will arrive;

The heavens that now draw him

With sweetness untold,

Once found,—for new heavens

He spurneth the old.

Pride ruined the angels,

Their shame them restores;

Lurks the joy that is sweetest

In stings of remorse.

Have I a lover

Who is noble and free?—

I would he were nobler

Than to love me.

Eterne alternation

Now follows, now flies;

And under pain, pleasure,—

Under pleasure, pain lies.