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The Destiny of Nations[;] A Vision

  1. 1Auspicious Reverence! Hush all meaner song,
  2. 2Ere we the deep preluding strain have poured
  3. 3To the Great Father, only Rightful King,
  4. 4Eternal Father! King Omnipotent!
  5. 5To the Will Absolute, the One, the Good!
  6. 6The I AM, the Word, the Life, the Living God!
  1. 7Such symphony requires best instrument.
  2. 8Seize, then, my soul! from Freedom's trophied dome
  3. 9The Harp which hangeth high between the Shields
  4. 10Of Brutus and Leonidas! With that
  5. 11Strong music, that soliciting spell, force back
  6. 12Man's free and stirring spirit that lies entranced.
  7. 13For what is Freedom, but the unfettered use
  8. 14Of all the powers which God for use had given?
  9. 15But chiefly this, him First, him Last to view
  10. 16Through meaner powers and secondary things
  11. 17Effulgent, as through clouds that veil his blaze.
  12. 18For all that meets the bodily sense I deem
  13. 19Symbolical, one mighty alphabet
  14. 20For infant minds; and we in this low world
  15. 21Placed with our backs to bright Reality,
  16. 22That we may learn with young unwounded ken
  17. 23The substance from its shadow. Infinite Love,
  18. 24Whose latence is the plenitude of All,
  19. 25Thou with retracted beams, and self-eclipse
  20. 26Veiling, revealest thine eternal Sun.
  1. 27But some there are who deem themselves most free
  2. 28When they within this gross and visible sphere
  3. 29Chain down the wingéd thought, scoffing ascent,
  4. 30Proud in their meanness: and themselves they cheat
  5. 31With noisy emptiness of learned phrase,
  6. 32Their subtle fluids, impacts, essences,
  7. 33Self-working tools, uncaused effects, and all
  8. 34Those blind Omniscients, those Almighty Slaves,
  9. 35Untenanting creation of its God.
  1. 36But Properties are God: the naked mass
  2. 37(If mass there be, fantastic guess or ghost)
  3. 38Acts only by its inactivity.
  4. 39Here we pause humbly. Others boldlier think
  5. 40That as one body seems the aggregate
  6. 41Of atoms numberless, each organized;
  7. 42So by a strange and dim similitude
  8. 43Infinite myriads of self-conscious minds
  9. 44Are one all-conscious Spirit, which informs
  10. 45With absolute ubiquity of thought
  11. 46(His one eternal self-affirming act!)
  12. 47All his involvéd Monads, that yet seem
  13. 48With various province and apt agency
  14. 49Each to pursue its own self-centering end.
  15. 50Some nurse the infant diamond in the mine;
  16. 51Some roll the genial juices through the oak;
  17. 52Some drive the mutinous clouds to clash in air,
  18. 53And rushing on the storm with whirlwind speed,
  19. 54Yoke the red lightnings to their volleying car.
  20. 55Thus these pursue their never-varying course,
  21. 56No eddy in their stream. Others, more wild,
  22. 57With complex interests weaving human fates,
  23. 58Duteous or proud, alike obedient all,
  24. 59Evolve the process of eternal good.
  1. 60And what if some rebellious, o'er dark realms
  2. 61Arrogate power? yet these train up to God,
  3. 62And on the rude eye, unconfirmed for day,
  4. 63Flash meteor-lights better than total gloom.
  5. 64As ere from Lieule-Oaive's vapoury head
  6. 65The Laplander beholds the far-off Sun
  7. 66Dart his slant beam on unobeying snows,
  8. 67While yet the stern and solitary Night
  9. 68Brooks no alternate sway, the Boreal Morn
  10. 69With mimic lustre substitutes its gleam.
  11. 70Guiding his course or by Niemi lake
  12. 71Or Balda Zhiok, or the mossy stone
  13. 72Of Solfar-kapper, while the snowy blast
  14. 73Drifts arrowy by, or eddies round his sledge,
  15. 74Making the poor babe at its mother's back[134:1]
  16. 75Scream in its scanty cradle: he the while
  17. 76Wins gentle solace as with upward eye
  18. 77He marks the streamy banners of the North,
  19. 78Thinking himself those happy spirits shall join
  20. 79Who there in floating robes of rosy light
  21. 80Dance sportively. For Fancy is the power
  22. 81That first unsensualises the dark mind,
  23. 82Giving it new delights; and bids it swell
  24. 83With wild activity; and peopling air,
  25. 84By obscure fears of Beings invisible,
  26. 85Emancipates it from the grosser thrall
  27. 86Of the present impulse, teaching Self-control,
  28. 87Till Superstition with unconscious hand
  29. 88Seat Reason on her throne. Wherefore not vain,
  30. 89Nor yet without permitted power impressed,
  31. 90I deem those legends terrible, with which
  32. 91The polar ancient thrills his uncouth throng:
  33. 92Whether of pitying Spirits that make their moan
  34. 93O'er slaughter'd infants, or that Giant Bird
  35. 94Vuokho, of whose rushing wings the noise
  36. 95Is Tempest, when the unutterable Shape
  37. 96Speeds from the mother of Death, and utters once
  38. 97That shriek, which never murderer heard, and lived.
  1. 98Or if the Greenland Wizard in strange trance
  2. 99Pierces the untravelled realms of Ocean's bed
  3. 100Over the abysm, even to that uttermost cave
  4. 101By mis-shaped prodigies beleaguered, such
  5. 102As Earth ne'er bred, nor Air, nor the upper Sea:
  6. 103Where dwells the Fury Form, whose unheard name
  7. 104With eager eye, pale cheek, suspended breath,
  8. 105And lips half-opening with the dread of sound,
  9. 106Unsleeping Silence guards, worn out with fear
  10. 107Lest haply 'scaping on some treacherous blast
  11. 108The fateful word let slip the Elements
  12. 109And frenzy Nature. Yet the wizard her,
  13. 110Arm'd with Torngarsuck's power, the Spirit of Good,
  14. 111Forces to unchain the foodful progeny
  15. 112Of the Ocean stream;--thence thro' the realm of Souls,
  16. 113Where live the Innocent, as far from cares
  17. 114As from the storms and overwhelming waves
  18. 115That tumble on the surface of the Deep,
  19. 116Returns with far-heard pant, hotly pursued
  20. 117By the fierce Warders of the Sea, once more,
  21. 118Ere by the frost foreclosed, to repossess
  22. 119His fleshly mansion, that had staid the while
  23. 120In the dark tent within a cow'ring group
  24. 121Untenanted.--Wild phantasies! yet wise,
  25. 122On the victorious goodness of high God
  26. 123Teaching reliance, and medicinal hope,
  27. 124Till from Bethabra northward, heavenly Truth
  28. 125With gradual steps, winning her difficult way,
  29. 126Transfer their rude Faith perfected and pure.
  1. 127If there be Beings of higher class than Man,
  2. 128I deem no nobler province they possess,
  3. 129Than by disposal of apt circumstance
  4. 130To rear up kingdoms: and the deeds they prompt,
  5. 131Distinguishing from mortal agency,
  6. 132They choose their human ministers from such states
  7. 133As still the Epic song half fears to name,
  8. 134Repelled from all the minstrelsies that strike
  9. 135The palace-roof and soothe the monarch's pride.
  10. 136And such, perhaps, the Spirit, who (if words
  11. 137Witnessed by answering deeds may claim our faith)
  12. 138Held commune with that warrior-maid of France
  13. 139Who scourged the Invader. From her infant days,
  14. 140With Wisdom, mother of retired thoughts,
  15. 141Her soul had dwelt; and she was quick to mark
  16. 142The good and evil thing, in human lore
  17. 143Undisciplined. For lowly was her birth,
  18. 144And Heaven had doomed her early years to toil
  19. 145That pure from Tyranny's least deed, herself
  20. 146Unfeared by Fellow-natures, she might wait
  21. 147On the poor labouring man with kindly looks,
  22. 148And minister refreshment to the tired
  23. 149Way-wanderer, when along the rough-hewn bench
  24. 150The sweltry man had stretched him, and aloft
  25. 151Vacantly watched the rudely-pictured board
  26. 152Which on the Mulberry-bough with welcome creak
  27. 153Swung to the pleasant breeze. Here, too, the Maid
  28. 154Learnt more than Schools could teach: Man's shifting mind,
  29. 155His vices and his sorrows! And full oft
  30. 156At tales of cruel wrong and strange distress
  31. 157Had wept and shivered. To the tottering Eld
  32. 158Still as a daughter would she run: she placed
  33. 159His cold limbs at the sunny door, and loved
  34. 160To hear him story, in his garrulous sort,
  35. 161Of his eventful years, all come and gone.
  1. 162So twenty seasons past. The Virgin's form,
  2. 163Active and tall, nor Sloth nor Luxury
  3. 164Had shrunk or paled. Her front sublime and broad,
  4. 165Her flexile eye-brows wildly haired and low,
  5. 166And her full eye, now bright, now unillumed,
  6. 167Spake more than Woman's thought; and all her face
  7. 168Was moulded to such features as declared
  8. 169That Pity there had oft and strongly worked,
  9. 170And sometimes Indignation. Bold her mien,
  10. 171And like an haughty huntress of the woods
  11. 172She moved: yet sure she was a gentle maid!
  12. 173And in each motion her most innocent soul
  13. 174Beamed forth so brightly, that who saw would say
  14. 175Guilt was a thing impossible in her!
  15. 176Nor idly would have said--for she had lived
  16. 177In this bad World, as in a place of Tombs,
  17. 178And touched not the pollutions of the Dead.
  1. 179'Twas the cold season when the Rustic's eye
  2. 180From the drear desolate whiteness of his fields
  3. 181Rolls for relief to watch the skiey tints
  4. 182And clouds slow-varying their huge imagery;
  5. 183When now, as she was wont, the healthful Maid
  6. 184Had left her pallet ere one beam of day
  7. 185Slanted the fog-smoke. She went forth alone
  8. 186Urged by the indwelling angel-guide, that oft,
  9. 187With dim inexplicable sympathies
  10. 188Disquieting the heart, shapes out Man's course
  11. 189To the predoomed adventure. Now the ascent
  12. 190She climbs of that steep upland, on whose top
  13. 191The Pilgrim-man, who long since eve had watched
  14. 192The alien shine of unconcerning stars,
  15. 193Shouts to himself, there first the Abbey-lights
  16. 194Seen in Neufchâtel's vale; now slopes adown
  17. 195The winding sheep-track vale-ward: when, behold
  18. 196In the first entrance of the level road
  19. 197An unattended team! The foremost horse
  20. 198Lay with stretched limbs; the others, yet alive
  21. 199But stiff and cold, stood motionless, their manes
  22. 200Hoar with the frozen night-dews. Dismally
  23. 201The dark-red dawn now glimmered; but its gleams
  24. 202Disclosed no face of man. The maiden paused,
  25. 203Then hailed who might be near. No voice replied.
  26. 204From the thwart wain at length there reached her ear
  27. 205A sound so feeble that it almost seemed
  28. 206Distant: and feebly, with slow effort pushed,
  29. 207A miserable man crept forth: his limbs
  30. 208The silent frost had eat, scathing like fire.
  31. 209Faint on the shafts he rested. She, meantime,
  32. 210Saw crowded close beneath the coverture
  33. 211A mother and her children--lifeless all,
  34. 212Yet lovely! not a lineament was marred--
  35. 213Death had put on so slumber-like a form!
  36. 214It was a piteous sight; and one, a babe.
  37. 215The crisp milk frozen on its innocent lips,
  38. 216Lay on the woman's arm, its little hand
  39. 217Stretched on her bosom.
  1. 218Mutely questioning,
  2. 219The Maid gazed wildly at the living wretch.
  3. 220He, his head feebly turning, on the group
  4. 221Looked with a vacant stare, and his eye spoke
  5. 222The drowsy calm that steals on worn-out anguish.
  6. 223She shuddered; but, each vainer pang subdued,
  7. 224Quick disentangling from the foremost horse
  8. 225The rustic bands, with difficulty and toil
  9. 226The stiff cramped team forced homeward. There arrived,
  10. 227Anxiously tends him she with healing herbs,
  11. 228And weeps and prays--but the numb power of Death
  12. 229Spreads o'er his limbs; and ere the noon-tide hour,
  13. 230The hovering spirits of his Wife and Babes
  14. 231Hail him immortal! Yet amid his pangs,
  15. 232With interruptions long from ghastly throes,
  16. 233His voice had faltered out this simple tale.
  1. 234The Village, where he dwelt an husbandman,
  2. 235By sudden inroad had been seized and fired
  3. 236Late on the yester-evening. With his wife
  4. 237And little ones he hurried his escape.
  5. 238They saw the neighbouring hamlets flame, they heard
  6. 239Uproar and shrieks! and terror-struck drove on
  7. 240Through unfrequented roads, a weary way!
  8. 241But saw nor house nor cottage. All had quenched
  9. 242Their evening hearth-fire: for the alarm had spread.
  10. 243The air clipt keen, the night was fanged with frost,
  11. 244And they provisionless! The weeping wife
  12. 245Ill hushed her children's moans; and still they moaned,
  13. 246Till Fright and Cold and Hunger drank their life.
  14. 247They closed their eyes in sleep, nor knew 'twas Death.
  15. 248He only, lashing his o'er-wearied team,
  16. 249Gained a sad respite, till beside the base
  17. 250Of the high hill his foremost horse dropped dead.
  18. 251Then hopeless, strengthless, sick for lack of food,
  19. 252He crept beneath the coverture, entranced,
  20. 253Till wakened by the maiden.--Such his tale.
  1. 254Ah! suffering to the height of what was suffered,
  2. 255Stung with too keen a sympathy, the Maid
  3. 256Brooded with moving lips, mute, startful, dark!
  4. 257And now her flushed tumultuous features shot
  5. 258Such strange vivacity, as fires the eye
  6. 259Of Misery fancy-crazed! and now once more
  7. 260Naked, and void, and fixed, and all within
  8. 261The unquiet silence of confuséd thought
  9. 262And shapeless feelings. For a mighty hand
  10. 263Was strong upon her, till in the heat of soul
  11. 264To the high hill-top tracing back her steps,
  12. 265Aside the beacon, up whose smouldered stones
  13. 266The tender ivy-trails crept thinly, there,
  14. 267Unconscious of the driving element,
  15. 268Yea, swallowed up in the ominous dream, she sate
  16. 269Ghastly as broad-eyed Slumber! a dim anguish
  17. 270Breathed from her look! and still with pant and sob,
  18. 271Inly she toiled to flee, and still subdued,
  19. 272Felt an inevitable Presence near.
  1. 273Thus as she toiled in troublous ecstasy,
  2. 274A horror of great darkness wrapt her round,
  3. 275And a voice uttered forth unearthly tones,
  4. 276Calming her soul,--'O Thou of the Most High
  5. 277Chosen, whom all the perfected in Heaven
  6. 278Behold expectant--'
[The following fragments were intended to form part of the poem when finished.]
  1. 279'Maid beloved of Heaven!
  2. 280(To her the tutelary Power exclaimed)
  3. 281Of Chaos the adventurous progeny
  4. 282Thou seest; foul missionaries of foul sire.
  5. 283Fierce to regain the losses of that hour
  6. 284When rose glittering, and his gorgeous wings
  7. 285Over the abyss fluttered with such glad noise,
  8. 286As what time after long and pestful calms,
  9. 287With slimy shapes and miscreated life
  10. 288Poisoning the vast Pacific, the fresh breeze
  11. 289Wakens the merchant-sail uprising. Night
  12. 290An heavy unimaginable moan
  13. 291Sent forth, when she the Protoplast beheld
  14. 292Stand beauteous on Confusion's charméd wave.
  15. 293Moaning she fled, and entered the Profound
  16. 294That leads with downward windings to the Cave
  17. 295Of Darkness palpable, Desert of Death
  18. 296Sunk deep beneath Gehenna's massy roots.
  19. 297There many a dateless age the Beldame lurked
  20. 298And trembled; till engendered by fierce Hate,
  21. 299Fierce Hate and gloomy Hope, a Dream arose,
  22. 300Shaped like a black cloud marked with streaks of fire.
  23. 301It roused the Hell-Hag: she the dew-damp wiped
  24. 302From off her brow, and through the uncouth maze
  25. 303Retraced her steps; but ere she reached the mouth
  26. 304Of that drear labyrinth, shuddering she paused,
  27. 305Nor dared re-enter the diminished Gulph.
  28. 306As through the dark vaults of some mouldered Tower
  29. 307(Which, fearful to approach, the evening hind
  30. 308Circles at distance in his homeward way)
  31. 309The winds breathe hollow, deemed the plaining groan
  32. 310Of prisoned spirits; with such fearful voice
  33. 311Night murmured, and the sound through Chaos went.
  34. 312Leaped at her call her hideous-fronted brood!
  35. 313A dark behest they heard, and rushed on earth;
  36. 314Since that sad hour, in Camps and Courts adored,
  37. 315Rebels from God, and Tyrants o'er Mankind!'
  1. 316From his obscure haunt
  2. 317Shrieked Fear, of Cruelty the ghastly Dam,
  3. 318Feverous yet freezing, eager-paced yet slow,
  4. 319As she that creeps from forth her swampy reeds.
  5. 320Ague, the biform Hag! when early Spring
  6. 321Beams on the marsh-bred vapours.
  1. 322'Even so (the exulting Maiden said)
  2. 323The sainted Heralds of Good Tidings fell,
  3. 324And thus they witnessed God! But now the clouds
  4. 325Treading, and storms beneath their feet, they soar
  5. 326Higher, and higher soar, and soaring sing
  6. 327Loud songs of triumph! O ye Spirits of God,
  7. 328Hover around my mortal agonies!'
  8. 329She spake, and instantly faint melody
  9. 330Melts on her ear, soothing and sad, and slow,
  10. 331Such measures, as at calmest midnight heard
  11. 332By agéd Hermit in his holy dream,
  12. 333Foretell and solace death; and now they rise
  13. 334Louder, as when with harp and mingled voice
  14. 335The white-robed multitude of slaughtered saints
  15. 336At Heaven's wide-open'd portals gratulant
  16. 337Receive some martyred patriot. The harmony
  17. 338Entranced the Maid, till each suspended sense
  18. 339Brief slumber seized, and confused ecstasy.
  1. 340At length awakening slow, she gazed around:
  2. 341And through a mist, the relict of that trance
  3. 342Still thinning as she gazed, an Isle appeared,
  4. 343Its high, o'er-hanging, white, broad-breasted cliffs,
  5. 344Glassed on the subject ocean. A vast plain
  6. 345Stretched opposite, where ever and anon
  7. 346The plough-man following sad his meagre team
  8. 347Turned up fresh sculls unstartled, and the bones
  9. 348Of fierce hate-breathing combatants, who there
  10. 349All mingled lay beneath the common earth,
  11. 350Death's gloomy reconcilement! O'er the fields
  12. 351Stept a fair Form, repairing all she might,
  13. 352Her temples olive-wreathed; and where she trod,
  14. 353Fresh flowerets rose, and many a foodful herb.
  15. 354But wan her cheek, her footsteps insecure,
  16. 355And anxious pleasure beamed in her faint eye,
  17. 356As she had newly left a couch of pain,
  18. 357Pale Convalescent! (Yet some time to rule
  19. 358With power exclusive o'er the willing world,
  20. 359That blessed prophetic mandate then fulfilled--
  21. 360Peace be on Earth!) An happy while, but brief,
  22. 361She seemed to wander with assiduous feet,
  23. 362And healed the recent harm of chill and blight,
  24. 363And nursed each plant that fair and virtuous grew.
  1. 364But soon a deep precursive sound moaned hollow:
  2. 365Black rose the clouds, and now, (as in a dream)
  3. 366Their reddening shapes, transformed to Warrior-hosts,
  4. 367Coursed o'er the sky, and battled in mid-air.
  5. 368Nor did not the large blood-drops fall from Heaven
  6. 369Portentous! while aloft were seen to float,
  7. 370Like hideous features looming on the mist,
  8. 371Wan stains of ominous light! Resigned, yet sad,
  9. 372The fair Form bowed her olive-crownéd brow,
  10. 373Then o'er the plain with oft-reverted eye
  11. 374Fled till a place of Tombs she reached, and there
  12. 375Within a ruined Sepulchre obscure
  13. 376Found hiding-place.
  1. 377The delegated Maid
  2. 378Gazed through her tears, then in sad tones exclaimed;--
  3. 379Thou mild-eyed Form! wherefore, ah! wherefore fled?
  4. 380The Power of Justice like a name all light,
  5. 381Shone from thy brow; but all they, who unblamed
  6. 382Dwelt in thy dwellings, call thee Happiness.
  7. 383Ah! why, uninjured and unprofited,
  8. 384Should multitudes against their brethren rush?
  9. 385Why sow they guilt, still reaping misery?
  10. 386Lenient of care, thy songs, O Peace! are sweet,
  11. 387As after showers the perfumed gale of eve,
  12. 388That flings the cool drops on a feverous cheek;
  13. 389And gay thy grassy altar piled with fruits.
  14. 390But boasts the shrine of Dæmon War one charm,
  15. 391Save that with many an orgie strange and foul,
  16. 392Dancing around with interwoven arms,
  17. 393The Maniac Suicide and Giant Murder
  18. 394Exult in their fierce union! I am sad,
  19. 395And know not why the simple peasants crowd
  20. 396Beneath the Chieftains' standard!' Thus the Maid.
  1. 397To her the tutelary Spirit said:
  2. 398'When Luxury and Lust's exhausted stores
  3. 399No more can rouse the appetites of kings;
  4. 400When the low flattery of their reptile lords
  5. 401Falls flat and heavy on the accustomed ear;
  6. 402When eunuchs sing, and fools buffoonery make,
  7. 403And dancers writhe their harlot-limbs in vain;
  8. 404Then War and all its dread vicissitudes
  9. 405Pleasingly agitate their stagnant hearts;
  10. 406Its hopes, its fears, its victories, its defeats,
  11. 407Insipid Royalty's keen condiment!
  12. 408Therefore, uninjured and unprofited
  13. 409(Victims at once and executioners),
  14. 410The congregated Husbandmen lay waste
  15. 411The vineyard and the harvest. As along
  16. 412The Bothnic coast, or southward of the Line,
  17. 413Though hushed the winds and cloudless the high noon,
  18. 414Yet if Leviathan, weary of ease,
  19. 415In sports unwieldy toss his island-bulk,
  20. 416Ocean behind him billows, and before
  21. 417A storm of waves breaks foamy on the strand.
  22. 418And hence, for times and seasons bloody and dark,
  23. 419Short Peace shall skin the wounds of causeless War,
  24. 420And War, his strainéd sinews knit anew,
  25. 421Still violate the unfinished works of Peace.
  26. 422But yonder look! for more demands thy view!'
  27. 423He said: and straightway from the opposite Isle
  28. 424A vapour sailed, as when a cloud, exhaled
  29. 425From Egypt's fields that steam hot pestilence,
  30. 426Travels the sky for many a trackless league,
  31. 427Till o'er some death-doomed land, distant in vain,
  32. 428It broods incumbent. Forthwith from the plain,
  33. 429Facing the Isle, a brighter cloud arose,
  34. 430And steered its course which way the vapour went.
  1. 431The Maiden paused, musing what this might mean.
  2. 432But long time passed not, ere that brighter cloud
  3. 433Returned more bright; along the plain it swept;
  4. 434And soon from forth its bursting sides emerged
  5. 435A dazzling form, broad-bosomed, bold of eye,
  6. 436And wild her hair, save where with laurels bound.
  7. 437Not more majestic stood the healing God,
  8. 438When from his bow the arrow sped that slew
  9. 439Huge Python. Shriek'd Ambition's giant throng,
  10. 440And with them hissed the locust-fiends that crawled
  11. 441And glittered in Corruption's slimy track.
  12. 442Great was their wrath, for short they knew their reign;
  13. 443And such commotion made they, and uproar,
  14. 444As when the mad Tornado bellows through
  15. 445The guilty islands of the western main,
  16. 446What time departing from their native shores,
  17. 447Eboe, or Koromantyn's plain of palms,
  18. 448The infuriate spirits of the murdered make
  19. 449Fierce merriment, and vengeance ask of Heaven.
  20. 450Warmed with new influence, the unwholesome plain
  21. 451Sent up its foulest fogs to meet the morn:
  22. 452The Sun that rose on Freedom, rose in Blood!
  1. 453'Maiden beloved, and Delegate of Heaven!
  2. 454(To her the tutelary Spirit said)
  3. 455Soon shall the Morning struggle into Day,
  4. 456The stormy Morning into cloudless Noon.
  5. 457Much hast thou seen, nor all canst understand--
  6. 458But this be thy best omen--Save thy Country!'
  7. 459Thus saying, from the answering Maid he passed,
  8. 460And with him disappeared the heavenly Vision.
  1. 461'Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!
  2. 462All-conscious Presence of the Universe!
  3. 463Nature's vast ever-acting Energy!
  4. 464In will, in deed, Impulse of All to All!
  5. 465Whether thy Love with unrefracted ray
  6. 466Beam on the Prophet's purgéd eye, or if
  7. 467Diseasing realms the Enthusiast, wild of thought,
  8. 468Scatter new frenzies on the infected throng,
  9. 469Thou both inspiring and predooming both,
  10. 470Fit instruments and best, of perfect end:
  11. 471Glory to Thee, Father of Earth and Heaven!'
  1. 472And first a landscape rose
  2. 473More wild and waste and desolate than where
  3. 474The white bear, drifting on a field of ice,
  4. 475Howls to her sundered cubs with piteous rage
  5. 476And savage agony.