I READ three poems in one changeful night— From Wordsworth, Shelley, and brusque Browning. Then My heart had ampler faith and hope for men And God and all things. Large, serene, and bright, Through radiant noontide glow and sweet starlight, O'er mountain-mist and brook and tuneful glen God's heavens were arched in tranquil Wordsworth's ken. Then, through waste lands and up the splintered height, There rang, arraigning thrones and Heaven above, A plea that gathered all the ills of Earth Into three Titan cries:—"Truth: Freedom: Love!" O Shelley, list this Seer of mightier birth— O'er "Fire-side", "Morgue", Death's "Fog", a jubilant voice: "The Power and Love are one: Fight on! Rejoice!" |