Page:Shelley, a poem, with other writings (Thomson, Debell).djvu/20

2 Until the Drama which that hush foretold Did come indeed as at a monarch's call; Although its pregnant scenes were not unrolled Upon that sea-stage, nor within that wall Of circling crystal, nor were lamped at all By that serenest moon, they claimed a stage Of ampler scope and grander equipage.

The stars are speeding in their companies; God's chariots in divine array, they roll Circling the sphere of three infinities, Our symbol of His thought-confounding Whole As Plato saw them with his clear-eyed soul, He saw, we saw; and each one tries to tell The Vision each one knows ineffable.

And every silver-burning chariot-sphere Whose wheels churn Æther to the foam of Light Is guided by its seraph-charioteer, Serenely regnant o'er its fulgent flight, Sceptred and crowned and clothed with awful might: The infinite armies of the Lord, whose pinions Flash fire throughout His infinite dominions.

And yet, as every dreamer seems to be  The centre of the action of his dream, Our speck of this poor earth-speck was to me  The single central fountain whence did stream The growing river of that drama's theme; Which rolled so far and broadened out so wide That all the worlds were floated on its tide.