Page:The Dream of Pythagoras and Other Poems.djvu/28

 Umbrageous, and a thousand slant sunbeams

Play'd o'er them; but beneath all was obscure

And solemn, save that, as the sun went down.

One pale and tremulous sunbeam, stealing in

Through the unconscious leaves her silent way,

Fell on the forehead of Pythagoras

Like spiritual radiance; all else wrapt

In gloom delicious; while the murmuring wind,

Oft moving through the forest as in dreams,

Made melancholy music. Then the sage

Thus spoke: " My children, listen; let the soul

Hear her mysterious origin, and trace

Her backward path to heaven. 'Twas but a dream;

And yet from shadows may we learn the shape

And substance of undying truth. Methought

In vision I beheld the first beginning

And after-changes of my soul. joy!

She is of no mean origin, but sprang

From loftier source than stars or sunbeams know.

Yea, like a small and feeble rill that bursts

From everlasting mountain's coronet,

And, winding through a thousand labyrinths

Of darkness, deserts, and di'ear solitudes,

Yet never dies, but, gaining depth and power,