Now the great wheel of darkness and low clouds Whirs and whirls in the heavens with dipping rim; Against the ice-white wall of light in the west Skeleton trees bow down in a stream of air. Leaves, black leaves and smoke, are blown on the wind; Mount upward past my window; swoop again; In a sharp silence, loudly, loudly falls The first cold drop, striking a shriveled leaf. . . . Doom and dusk for the earth! Upward I reach To draw chill curtains and shut out the dark, Pausing an instant, with uplifted hand, To watch, between black ruined portals of cloud, One star, -- the tottering portals fall and crush it. Here are a thousand books! here is the wisdom Alembicked out of dust, or out of nothing; Choose now the weightiest word, most golden page, Most somberly musicked line; hold up these lanterns, -- These paltry lanterns, wisdoms, philosophies, -- Above your eyes, against this wall of darkness; And you'll see -- what? One hanging strand of cobweb, A window-sill a half-inch deep in dust . . . Speak out, old wise-men! Now, if ever, we need you. Cry loudly, lift shrill voices like magicians Against this baleful dusk, this wail of rain. . . . But you are nothing! Your pages turn to water Under my fingers: cold, cold and gleaming, Arrowy in the darkness, rippling, dripping -- All things are rain. . . . Myself, this lighted room, What are we but a murmurous pool of rain? . . . The slow arpeggios of it, liquid, sibilant, Thrill and thrill in the dark. World-deep I lie Under a sky of rain. Thus lies the sea-shell Under the rustling twilight of the sea; No gods remember it, no understanding Cleaves the long darkness with a sword of light. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE LION'S RIDE by FERDINAND FREILIGRATH PALINGENESIS by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE SECRETARY; WRITTEN AT THE HAGUE, 1696 by MATTHEW PRIOR EVE by CHRISTINA GEORGINA ROSSETTI FOR 'THE WINE OF CIRCE' (BY EDWARD BURNE JONES) by DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI TO - (2) by PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY CHICAGO [OCTOBER 8-10, 1871] by JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER |