ΙΟΟ
MERCURY.
II
The Temf/e in Darkness
Ο Light in Light!
Ο flashing wings of fire
!
The swiftest of the moments of the sea
15 unto thee
Even as some slow-foot Eternity
With limbs that drag and wheels that tire.
Ο subtle-minded flame of amber gyre,
It seems a spark of gold
Grown purple, and behold!
A flame of gray!
Then the dark night-wings glow
With iridescent indigo,
Shot with some violet ray ;
And all the vision flames across the horizon
The millionth of no time—and when we say:
Hail !—Thou art gone!
The Moon is dark beside thy crown ; the Sun
Seems a pale image of thy body bare;
And for thine hair
Flash comets lustrous with the dewfall rare
Of tears of that most memorable One,
The radiant Queen, the veiléd Paphiani
The wings of light divine
Beneath thy body shine ;
The invisible
Rayed with some tangible flame,
Seeking to formulate a name,