Xxi

“I prayed; and for a time felt strong as strength, And held both hands out to the loveliness That lured in the ideal. And I felt Compelling power upon me that would lift My face to heaven, now, to see the stars, Now bend it back to earth to see the flowers. I learned long lessons ’twixt a look and look:

Breezes and linden blooms, Sunshine and showers; Rain, that the May perfumes, Cupped in the flowers: Clouds and the leaves that patter Raindrops that glint and glare-- Or be they gems that scatter? Sapphires the sylphides shake, When their loose fillets break, Out of their radiant hair?

Now is my heart a lute! Now doth it pinion Song in love’s swift pursuit In thought’s dominion! Dreaming of all thou meanest, Thou, with uneager eyes, Nature! of worlds thou queenest, Whither thy mother hand Draws us from land to land, Far from the worldly wise!