Page:The Dream of Pythagoras and Other Poems.djvu/29

 Leaps forth at last with uncontrollable might

Into immortal sunshine and the breast

Of boundless ocean,—so is this my soul.

I felt myself spring like a sunbeam out

From the Eternal, and my first abode

Was a pure particle of light, wherein

Shrined like a beam in crystal, I did ride

Gloriously through the firmament on wings

Of floating flowers, ethereal gems, and wreaths

Of vernal rainbows. I did paint a rose

With blush of day-dawn, and a lily-bell

With mine own essence; every morn I dipt

My robe in the full sun, then all day long

Shook out its dew on earth, and was content

To be unmark'd, unworshipp'd, and unknown,

And only lov'd of heaven. Thus did my soul

Live spotless like her Source. 'Twas mine t' illume

The palaces of nature, and explore

Her hidden cabinets, and, raptur'd, read

Her joyous secrets. return, thou life

Of purity! I flew from mountain-top

To mountain, building rainbow-bridges up—

From hill to hill, and over boundless seas:

Ecstasy was such life, and on the verge