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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FRAGMENT OF A MYTHOLOGICAL HYMN TO LOVE by THOMAS MOORE

First Line: BLEST INFANT OF ETERNITY!
Last Line: AND THEIR FIRST KISS IS GREAT CREATION'S DAWN!

BLEST infant of eternity!
Before the day-star learn'd to move,
In pomp of fire, along his grand career,
Glancing the beamy shafts of light
From his rich quiver to the farthest sphere,
Thou wert alone, O Love!
Nestling beneath the wings of ancient Night,
Whose horrors seem'd to smile in shadowing thee!

No form of beauty soothed thine eye,
As through the dim expanse it wander'd wide;
No kindred spirit caught thy sigh,
As o'er the watery waste it lingering died!

Unfelt the pulse, unknown the power,
That latent in his heart was sleeping;
O Sympathy! that lonely hour
Saw Love himself thy absence weeping!

But look, what glory through the darkness beams!
Celestial airs along the water glide:
What spirit art thou, moving o'er the tide
So lovely? Art thou but the child
Of the young godhead's dreams,
That mock his hope with fancies strange and wild?
Or were his tears, as quick they fell,
Collected in so bright a form,
Till, kindled by the ardent spell
Of his desiring eyes,
And all impregnate with his sighs,
They spring to life in shape so fair and warm!

'Tis she!
Psyche, the first-born spirit of the air:
To thee, O Love! she turns,
On thee her eye-beam burns:
Blest hour of nuptial ecstacy!
They meet --
The blooming god -- the spirit fair --
Oh, sweet! oh, heavenly sweet!
Now, Sympathy, the hour is thine;
All nature feels the thrill divine,
The veil of Chaos is withdrawn,
And their first kiss is great Creation's dawn!



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