An angel with a flaming sword Has shut me out of Paradise, For I have sinned before the Lord, And exile is my sacrifice. Yet I am brother to the stars— I know the path that they must tread, Since, fighting in angelic wars, The lightnings circle round my head. No bolt can kill this living soul, Though chaos black blot out the day, And heaven, like a shrivelled scroll, Burn up, dissolve, and pass away. Before the birth of mother night, From whom came all created things, My spirit came on endless flight, The past and future are its wings. Son of the Morning, in my hand I bear a torch from other spheres; Its light will spread o'er every land, And shine thro' all the coming years. For ye shall know me by a sign, When fire is kindled at my breath, And comes a messenger divine, Whose form is life, whose shadow death! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE EXISTING POOL by HAYDEN CARRUTH A MID-DAY DREAMER by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON JONES'S PRIVATE ARGYMENT by SIDNEY LANIER THE NIGHT MOTHS by EDWIN MARKHAM NORTH WIND TO DUTIFUL BEAST MIDWAY BETWEEN DIAL & FOOT OF GARDEN CLOCK by MARIANNE MOORE |