Page:Songs of the Affections.pdf/14

Shakes out response;—O thou rich world unseen!
Thou curtain'd realm of spirits!—thus my cry
Hath troubled air and silence—dost thou lie
Spread all around, yet by some filmy screen
Shut from us ever?—The resounding woods,
Do their depths teem with marvels?—and the floods,
And the pure fountains, leading secret veins
Of quenchless melody through rock and hill,
Have they bright dwellers?—are their lone domains
Peopled with beauty, which may never still
Our weary thirst of soul?—Cold, weak and cold,
Is Earth's vain language, piercing not one fold
Of our deep being!—Oh, for gifts more high!
For a seer's glance to rend mortality!
For a charm'd rod, to call from each dark shrine.
The oracles divine!

I woke from those high fantasies, to know
My kindred with the Earth—I woke to love:—
O, gentle Friend! to love in doubt and woe,
Shutting the heart the worshipp'd name above,