Dedicated to My Friend, John F. Heath

I feel the bandages unrollThat bound my inward seeing;Freed are the bright wings of my soul,Types of my god-like being;High thoughts are swelling in my heartAnd rushing through my brain;May I never more lose partIn my soul's realm again!All things fair, where'er they be,In earth or air, in sky or sea,I have loved them all, and takenAll within my throbbing breast;No more my spirit can be shakenFrom its calm and kingly rest!Love hath shed its light around me,Love hath pierced the shades that bound me;Mine eyes are opened, I can seeThe universe's mystery,The mighty heart and coreOf After and BeforeI see, and I am weak no more!

Upward! upward evermore,To Heaven's open gate I soar!Little thoughts are far behind me,Which, when custom weaves together,All the nobler man can tether--Cobwebs now no more can bind me!Now fold thy wings a little while,My trancèd soul, and lieAt rest on this Calypso-isleThat floats in mellow sky,A thousand isles with gentle motionRock upon the sunset ocean;A thousand isles of thousand hues,How bright! how beautiful! how rare!Into my spirit they infuseA purer, a diviner air;The earth is growing dimmer,And now the last faint glimmerHath faded from the hill;But in my higher atmosphereThe sun-light streameth red and clear,Fringing the islets still;--Love lifts us to the sun-light,Though the whole world would be dark;Love, wide Love, is the one light,All else is but a fading spark;Love is the nectar which doth fillOur soul's cup even to overflowing,And, warming heart, and thought, and will,Doth lie within us mildly glowing,From its own centre raying outBeauty and Truth on all without.

Each on his golden throne,Full royally, alone,I see the stars above me,With sceptre and with diadem;Mildly they look down and love me,For I have ever yet loved them;I see their ever-sleepless eyesWatching the growth of destinies;Calm, sedate,The eyes of Fate,They wink not, nor do roll,But search the depths of soul--And in those mighty depths they seeThe germs of all Futurity,Waiting but the fitting timeTo burst and ripen into prime,As in the womb of mother EarthThe seeds of plants and forests lieAge upon age and never die--So in the souls of all men wait,Undyingly the seeds of Fate;Chance breaks the clod and forth they spring,Filling blind men with wondering.Eternal stars! with holy awe,As if a present God I saw,I look into those mighty eyesAnd see great destinies arise,As in those of mortal menFeelings glow and fade again!All things below, all things above,Are open to the eyes of Love.

Of Knowledge Love is master-key,Knowledge of Beauty; passing dearIs each to each, and mutuallyEach one doth make the other clear;Beauty is Love, and what we loveStraightway is beautiful,So is the circle round and full,And so dear Love doth live and moveAnd have his being,Finding his proper foodBy sure inseeing,In all things pure and good,Which he at will doth cull,Like a joyous butterflyHiving in the sunny bowersOf the soul's fairest flowers,Or, between the earth and sky,Wandering at libertyFor happy, happy hours!

The thoughts of Love are Poesy,As this fair earth and all we seeAre the thoughts of Deity--And Love is ours by our birthright!He hath cleared mine inward sight;Glorious shapes with glorious eyesRound about my spirit glance,Shedding a mild and golden lightOn the shadowy face of Night;To unearthly melodies,Hand in hand, they weave their dance,While a deep, ambrosial lustreFrom their rounded limbs doth shine,Through many a rich and golden clusterOf streaming hair divine.In our gross and earthly hoursWe cannot see the Love-given powersWhich ever round the soul awaitTo do its sovereign will,When, in its moments calm and still,It re-assumes its royal state,Nor longer sits with eyes downcast,A beggar, dreaming of the past,At its own palace-gate.

I too am a Maker and a Poet;Through my whole soul I feel it and know it;My veins are fired with ecstasy!All-mother EarthDid ne'er give birthTo one who shall be matched with me;The lustre of my coronalShall cast a dimness over all.--Alas! alas! what have I spoken?My strong, my eagle wings are broken,And back again to earth I fall!