Page:The poetical works of Matthew Arnold, 1897.djvu/292

254 That I have loved no darkness,

Sophisticated no truth,

Nursed no delusion,

Allowed no fear!

And therefore, O ye elements! I know—

Ye know it too—it hath been granted me

Not to die wholly, not to be all enslaved.

I feel it in this hour. The numbing cloud

Mounts off my soul; I feel it, I breathe free.

Is it but for a moment?

—Ah, boil up, ye vapors!

Leap and roar, thou sea of fire!

My soul glows to meet you.

Ere it flag, ere the mists

Of despondency and gloom

Rush over it again,

Receive me, save me!

CALLICLES (from below).

Through the black, rushing smoke-bursts,

Thick breaks the red flame;

All Etna heaves fiercely

Her forest-clothed frame.

Not here, O Apollo!

Are haunts meet for thee;

But where Helicon breaks down

In cliff to the sea,—

Where the moon-silvered inlets

Send far their light voice

Up the still vale of Thisbe,—

Oh, speed, and rejoice!