Poems Sigourney 1827/A Vision
A VISION.
Light pour'd upon me like a rushing flood,
And all was glorious.—The brief, trembling ties
That bound me grossly to this mouldering earth
Were fading into air.—Pure, white-wing'd forms
Flock'd round me, and with gentle art essay'd
To lure my upward flight, where harmony
Came softly breathing like some dulcet lute
From domes of pearl.—Methought they marshall'd me
Up to heaven's gate.—But on a poising cloud
Midway I hung.—So much the grosser weight
Of these corporeal elements prevail'd,
I might not rise;—and yet so sweet they sang
"Come hither!"—that by melody enchain'd
I could not backward turn.—My bright abode
Glittering with amber and with crimson, seem'd
Pavilion for some God.—Serene I lay
As on a couch impalpable,—o'erarch'd
With drapery brighter than Aurora's ray,
Which every moment changed.—Anon it sail'd
Deliciously,—as on some waveless sea
Which ask'd nor sail nor oar.—Each star breathed forth
Mysterious melody,—as on it toil'd
To do the Eternal's bidding, and fulfil
Its measured voyage.—There our orb revolved.—
Now stain'd with blood and now with sunbeams gay,
Here heap'd with hecatombs and there with fruits
Of joyous harvest.—To the loftier eye
Of some archangel traveller, whose broad wing
Circles the empyrean, it might seem
A dull, dim speck,—where crawling emmets toil
To treasure dust.—But as I gazed intent,
Black whizzing pinions, with hoarse words swept by,
As if the rude blast shaped itself a voice,
—"What doth this mortal here?"—And then I saw
A mighty seraph with a flaming trump
Descend majestic.—Toward our globe he sped,
As if commission'd to proclaim her hour
Of final dissolution.—My sad heart
Yearn'd o'er its first abode,—and though I fear'd
Her atmosphere would soon be liquid fire,
And all her glories vanish as a scroll,
I fain must leave my Paradise for her.—
—From my pure, odorous couch I madly leap'd.—
I fell interminably.—At the shock
The vision fled,—and I with transport hail'd
The firm, green earth,—and girt myself to toil
A little longer in her wildering race,
Then in her bosom sleep.