Unseen, unknown, unsensed, ineffable;
And all my being with bright passion shook.
Such moments, like the heavenly messenger,
Announce a birth divine; they cannot die;
And never after faded that pure ray.
It crept on human faces, forms of youth,
The smile of woman, hero, saint, and child,
And lit my youth from many a great design
Of mighty artists, where the risen soul,
Above the tomb as on a pedestal
Seated immortal, waited heaven's ascent;
Or crosses, on Judæan mounts relieved,
Led up the eye; or golden clouds enthroned
Virgin and martyr,—Italy enskied
Above her long-lined hills; but most it shone,
Where marble forms immovable of gods
Stayed the one moment of eternity
That ever is, and flashed through time and tide
The radiant presence of a greater world
Of timeless beauty, omnipresent thought,
The element of immortality,
Wherein the universe is lightly borne.
Then came a greater wonder. The ideal
Shone on me from the living forms of men
More than from paint, or clay, or gleaming stone,
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