That I have loved no darkness,
Sophisticated no truth,
Nursed no delusion,
Allowed no fear!
And therefore, O ye elements! I know—
Ye know it too—it hath been granted me
Not to die wholly, not to be all enslaved.
I feel it in this hour. The numbing cloud
Mounts off my soul; I feel it, I breathe free.
Is it but for a moment?
—Ah, boil up, ye vapors!
Leap and roar, thou sea of fire!
My soul glows to meet you.
Ere it flag, ere the mists
Of despondency and gloom
Rush over it again,
Receive me, save me!
[He plunges into the crater.
CALLICLES (from below).
Through the black, rushing smoke-bursts,
Thick breaks the red flame;
All Etna heaves fiercely
Her forest-clothed frame.
Not here, O Apollo!
Are haunts meet for thee;
But where Helicon breaks down
In cliff to the sea,—
Where the moon-silvered inlets
Send far their light voice
Up the still vale of Thisbe,—
Oh, speed, and rejoice!
