Spirit of light divine! Quick breath of power, Breathe on these lips of mine, Persuade the bud to flower; Cleave thy dull swathe of cloud! no longer waits the hour. Exulting, rapturous flame, Dispel the night! I dare not breathe thy name, I tremble at thy light, Yet come! in fatal strength, -- come, in all matchless might. Burn, as the leaping fire A martyr's shroud; Burn, like an Indian pyre, With music fierce and loud. Come Power! Love calls thee, -- come, with all the god endowed! Immortal life in death, On these rapt eyes, On this quick, failing breath, In dread and glory rise. The altar waits thy torch, -- come, touch the sacrifice! Come! not with gifts of life, Not for my good; My soul hath kept her strife In fear and solitude; More blest the inverted torch, the horror-curdled blood. Better in light to die Than silent live; Rend from these lips one cry, One death-born utterance give, Then, clay, in fire depart! then, soul, in heaven survive! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BOATS IN A FOG by ROBINSON JEFFERS THE SWAMP FOX by WILLIAM GILMORE SIMMS I SIT AND LOOK OUT by WALT WHITMAN A CROWNED POET by ANNE REEVE ALDRICH TO THE LARK by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD THE RWOSE IN THE DARK by WILLIAM BARNES TO HIS WORSHIPFULL WEL-WILLER, MAISTER EDWARD LEIGH by RICHARD BARNFIELD |