Oft when my mind in transformations rich,
Floats tranquilly over the ocean of things,
And God who’s the centre of that true light,
Which over the soul its vivid flame flings–
Mysterious sun–not display’d to our sight,
That darts on the mind, then absorbs it like dew,
And wafts it to Heaven.
My Muse then raised on high–a wand’ring cloud
Capricious flies, without a chosen path,
From West to South, from North to East,
And from the radiant vaults full pow’r she hath
To gaze on cities of the world, and cast,
Disdainful of them all, her shadow
O’er them as she flies.
Like a star she then shines in the gold of morn;
And fringes with glory her radiant veil,
Sometimes as a warrior whose footsteps resound,
With lightning she strikes the grove, where the gale
Murmurs thro’–then onward she moves, and is found
To crimson her robe in that furnace of fire
Which sun-set displays.
Upon an ancient mount at last, with grey,
Colossal head–‘mong snowy Alps she’s ranged,
What matter? suspended o’er the chasm wide,
The cloud to a superb Glacier is chang’d,
Whose summit’s so studded with gems–in pride,
His glittering crown the magnificent
Giant displays.
Like a mount, whose height we cannot approach,
He now raises on high his tow’ring crest,
While the rainbow sports at his pond’rous side,
And each eve, while mists from earth meet his breast,
The torrents quick roll, and the gushing stream glide
‘Neath the sun’s melting pow’r–the Glacier anon
To a crater is turn’d.
His white front by night seems eternal dawn–
The Chamois ‘s amazed, whose feet are as wings:
By the gloomy taciturn eagle it’s fear’d–
The tempest that roars, at his feet now flings
Its impetuous force, and the eye hath scarce dared
Its aspect serene t’ approach, so much above us
In the Heavens it is.
Alone on this height from giddiness free–
And from fear–forgetting the illusions of earth,
The stars succeeding to day my soul then surveys–
The azure of Heav’n no longer shine forth–
The splendour which night’s fast approach displays,
As she scatters her sombre beauties afar,
Till a ray from on high
Strikes my spirit anew–then forces it down,
And the Glacier’s bright prisms transforms
Into waves mix’d with mire–then it shakes–
A torrent in the ocean of life’s storms
Refalls, and a thousand echos awakes–
Blind and deaf Chaos–sea immense, profound,
Where all waves re-meet.
As wills the breath Divine doth my spirit range,
Unceasingly urg’d in an eternal round:
As moisture’s exhaled by the sun’s powerful rays,
And then t’ ascend as a thick cloud is found,
From the depths where bitter waves swell–away
My thoughts soar to Heav’n, but as constant descend
To the ocean again.
DICT
(Mary Ann Carter)
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