Collected Works (Vol. I)

218 CARMEN SAECULARE The Isis of the World hath raised her veil One moment, that fresh glory of the stars May glow through winter, where the sun is pale; Melt snow-bound lilies; bid the prison bars, Wherein men bow their heads and women wail, Blossom to nenuphars. The sacred lotus of the universe Blossoms this century—a million tears Melted the ice of Eve’s accursed curse : A million more have watered it—it peers, A resurrection fragrance, to disperse Men’s folly and their fears. The contemplation of those awful eyes, The flaming void, the godhead of the light, The abyss of these unfathomable skies, Exhaust my being ; I desire the night. Lo! I have written all the destinies Thy spirit bade me write. The noise of rushing water! And the sound Of tenfold thunder! Mighty a flame of fire Roars downward: asa maiden from a swound My spirit answers to its own desire. My feet are firm again upon the ground— Vea! but my head is higher. My face is shining with the fire of heaven. I move among my fellows as a ghost. With thought for bread and memory for leaven My life is nourished, yet my life is lost. I live and move among the starry seven, Nor count the deadly cost. Only I see the century as a child Call Truth and Justice, Light and Peace, to guide ; Wisdom and Joy, and Love the undefiled, Lead up true worship, its eternal bride. Stormy its birth; its youth, how fierce and wild ! Its end, how glorified ! O Spirit of Iimitable Light ! O Thou with style and tablet !! Answer me In that dread pomp of Triumph and of Right, The awful day: my witnesses are Ye That I have said in all men’s sound and sight The things that are to be. IN THE HOUR BEFORE REVOLT. ‘““. . , the green paradise which western waves Embosom in their ever-wailing sweep, Talking of freedom to their tongueless caves, Or to the spirits which within them keep A record of the wrongs which, though they sleep, Die not, but dream of retribution.” Adonais {cancelled passage}. WILD pennons of sunrise the splendid, And scarlet of clustering flowers Cry aloud that the Winter is ended, Claim place for the re-risen hours. The Ram in the Heavens exalted ? Calls War to uncover her wing ; Through skies that be hollow and vaulted Exulting the shouts of him ring: The Sign of the Spring. How hollows the heart of the heaven ! How light swells his voice for a cry ! The winter is shaken and riven, And death and the fruits of him die. The billow roars back to its tyrant, The wind; the red thunderbolts roar 5 The flame and the earthquake aspirant Leap forth as an herald before The trumpet of war. In crimson he robes him for raiment, In armour all rusted and red : Spear shakes and sword flashes, exclaimant To share in the spoil of the dead. 1 Thoth, the Scribe of the Gods. 2 Aries, the sign which the Sun enters at the Vernal Equinox, is ‘‘ruled” by Mars, the planet of War.