Where the vast snake Eternity In charmed sleep doth ever lie. "All that inspires thy voice of love, Or speaks in thy unclosing eyes,
Or through thy frame doth burn and move, Or think or feel, awake, arise! Spirit, leave, for mine and me,
Earth's unsubstantial mimicry!"
It ceased and from the mute and moveless frame A radiant Spirit rose,
All beautiful in naked purity.
Instinct with inexpressible beauty and grace, Each stain of earthliness
Had passed away; it reassumed Its native dignity, and stood Immortal amid ruin.
Upon the couch the body lay,
Wrapped in the depth of slumber : Its features were fixed and meaningless; Yet animal life was there,
And every organ yet performed Its natural functions. 'Twas a sight Of wonder to behold the body and Soul. The self-same lineaments, the same Marks of identity, were there;
Yet oh how different! One aspires to heaven, Pants for its sempiternal heritage, And, ever-changing, ever-rising still,
Wantons in endless being.
The other, for a time the unwilling sport Of circumstance and passion, struggles on; Fleets through its sad duration rapidly; Then, like a useless and worn-out machine, Rots, perishes, and passes.
Fairy. Spirit who hast dived so deep, Spirit who hast soared so high, Thou the fearless, thou the mild,
Accept the boon thy worth hath earned,— Ascend the car with me.
Spirit. Do I dream? Is this new feeling But a visioned ghost of slumber?
If indeed I am a Soul,
A free, a disembodied Soul,
Speak again to me.
Fairy. I am the Fairy Mab. To me 'tis given The wonders of the human world to keep. The secrets of the immeasurable past In the unfailing consciences of men, Those stern unflattering chroniclers, I find.
The future, from the causes which arise In each event, I gather. Not the sting Which retributive memory implants In the hard bosom of the selfish man, Nor that ecstatic and exulting throb
Which virtue's votary feels when he sums up The thoughts and actions of a well-spent day, Are unforeseen, unregistered by me : And it is yet permitted me to rend
The veil of mortal frailty, that the spirit, Clothed in its changeless purity, may know How soonest to accomplish the great end For which it hath its being, and may taste That peace which in the end all life will share. This is the meed of virtue; happy Soul, Ascend the car with me!
The chains of earth's immurement Fell from Ianthe's Spirit;
They shrank and brake like bandages of straw Beneath a wakened giant's strength.
She knew her glorious change, And felt in apprehension uncontrolled New raptures opening round: Each day-dream of her mortal life, Each frenzied vision of the slumbers That closed each well-spent day, Seemed now to meet reality.
The Fairy and the Soul proceeded; The silver clouds disparted;
And, as the car of magic they ascended, Again the speechless music swelled, Again the coursers of the air
Unfurled their azure pennons, and the Queen,
Shaking the beamy reins,
Bade them pursue their way.
The magic car moved on.
The night was fair, and countless stars Studded heaven's dark-blue vault,—
The eastern wave grew pale With the first smile of morn. The magic car moved on. From the celestial hoofs
The atmosphere in flaming sparkles flew ; And, where the burning wheels Eddied above the mountain's loftiest peak, Was traced a line of lightning.
Now far above a rock, the utmost verge Of the wide earth, it flew-
The rival of the Andes, whose dark brow Loured o'er the silver sea.
Far far below the chariot's path, Calm as a slumbering babe, Tremendous Ocean lay.
The mirror of its stillness showed The pale and waning stars, The chariot's fiery track, And the grey light of morn Tinging those fleecy clouds
That cradled in their folds the infant dawn. The chariot seemed to fly
Through the abyss of an immense concave, Radiant with million constellations, tinged With shades of infinite colour,
And semicircled with a belt Flashing incessant meteors.
The magic car moved on.
As they approached their goal, The coursers seemed to gather speed. The sea no longer was distinguished; earth Appeared a vast and shadowy sphere; The sun's unclouded orb
Rolled through the black concave; Its rays of rapid light
Parted around the chariot's swifter course, And fell like ocean's feathery spray Dashed from the boiling surge
Before a vessel's prow.
The magic car moved on.
Earth's distant orb appeared
The smallest light that twinkles in the heavens ;
Whilst round the chariot's way Innumerable systems rolled,
And countless spheres diffused An ever-varying glory.
It was a sight of wonder: some
Were horned like the crescent moon;
Some shed a mild and silver beam
Like Hesperus o'er the western sea;
Some dashed athwart with trains of flame,
Like worlds to death and ruin driven;
Some shone like stars, and, as the chariot passed, Bedimmed all other light.
Spirit of Nature! here,
In this interminable wilderness Of worlds at whose immensity Even soaring fancy staggers, Here is thy fitting temple. Yet not the lightest leaf That quivers to the passing breeze Is less instinct with thee:
Yet not the meanest worm
That lurks in graves and fattens on the dead Less shares thy eternal breath. Spirit of Nature! thou Imperishable as this glorious scene! Here is thy fitting temple!
2. IF solitude hath ever led thy steps To the wild ocean's echoing shore, And thou hast lingered there Until the sun's broad orb
Seemed resting on the burnished wave,- Thou must have marked the braided webs of gold That without motion hang
Over the sinking sphere:
Thou must have marked the billowy mountain-clouds Edged with intolerable radiancy,
Towering like rocks of jet Above the burning deep.
And yet there is a moment- When the sun's highest point
Peeps like a star o'er ocean's western edge- When those far clouds of feathery purple gleam Like islands on a dark blue sea;
Then has thy fancy soared above the earth, And furled its wearied wing
Within the Fairy's fane.
Yet not the golden islands
That gleam amid yon flood of purple light Nor the feathery curtains
That canopy the sun's resplendent couch, Nor the burnished ocean-waves
Paving that gorgeous dome, So fair, so wonderful a sight
As Mab's etherial palace could afford. Yet likest evening's vault, that fairy hall. As heaven low resting on the wave, it spread Its floors of flashing light,
Its vast and azure dome ;
And, on the verge of that obscure abyss Where crystal battlements o'erhang the gulf Of the dark world, ten thousand spheres diffuse Their lustre through its adamantine gates.
The magic car no longer moved.
The Fairy and the Spirit
Entered the hall of spells.
Those golden clouds
That rolled in glittering billows
Beneath the azure canopy
With the etherial footsteps trembled not:
The light and crimson mists
Floated to strains of thrilling melody
Through the vast columns and the pearly shrines.
"Spirit," the Fairy said,
And pointed to the gorgeous dome, "This is a wondrous sight,
And mocks all human grandeur; But, were it virtue's only meed to dwell In a celestial palace, all resigned To pleasurable impulses, immured Within the prison of itself, the will
Of changeless Nature would be unfulfilled. Learn to make others happy. Spirit, come! This is thine high reward:-the past shall rise; Thou shalt behold the present; I will teach The secrets of the future."
The Fairy and the Spirit Approached the overhanging battlement.— Below lay stretched the universe. There, far as the remotest line That bounds imagination's flight, Countless and unending orbs In mazy motion intermingled, Yet still fulfilled immutably Eternal Nature's law. Above, below, around, The circling systems formed A wilderness of harmony; Each with undeviating aim,
In eloquent silence, through the depths of space Pursued its wondrous way.
There was a little light
That twinkled in the misty distance.
None but a spirit's eye
Might ken that rolling orb;
None but a spirit's eye,
And in no other place
But that celestial dwelling, might behold Each action of this Earth's inhabitants. But matter, space, and time,
In those aërial mansions cease to act; And all-prevailing wisdom, when it reaps The harvest of its excellence, o'erbounds Those obstacles of which an earthly soul Fears to attempt the conquest.
The Fairy pointed to the earth. The Spirit's intellectual eye Its kindred beings recognized.
The thronging thousands, to a passing view, Seemed like an ant-hill's citizens.
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