WITH fainting soul athirst for Grace, I wandered in a desert place, And at the crossing of the ways I saw a sixfold Seraph blaze; He touched mine eyes with fingers light As sleep that cometh in the night: And like a frighted eagle's eyes, They opened wide with prophecies. He touched mine ears, and they were drowned With tumult and a roaring sound: I heard convulsion in the sky, And flight of angel hosts on high, And beasts that move beneath the sea, And the sap creeping in the tree. And bending to my mouth he wrung From out of it my sinful tongue, And all its lies and idle rust, And 'twixt my lips a-perishing A subtle serpent's forked sting With right hand wet with blood he thrust. And with his sword my breast he cleft, My quaking heart thereout he reft, And in the yawning of my breast A coal of living fire he pressed. Then in the desert I lay dead, And God called unto me and said: "Arise, and let My voice be heard, Charged with My will go forth and span The land and sea, and let My word Lay waste with fire the heart of man." | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EXILE'S SONG by ROBERT GILFILLAN THE HERONS OF ELMWOOD by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW JUGGLING JERRY by GEORGE MEREDITH ON A GRAVE AT GRINDELWALD by FREDERICK WILLIAM HENRY MYERS A BETTER ANSWER (TO CHLOE JEALOUS) by MATTHEW PRIOR |