Shall change the earth from pole to pole after thy sacred will
And by thought that from submissive suns
Has learnt deftness and dances and tunes,
Shall sit in thy secret council
Among princes of the cosmos—
Blissful is life!
"The Hands" (1901).
3. THE HANDS.
In dazzling whiteness of light lay the earth, like a book of songs
Opened before our eyes. And thus did we sing:
Lo, in this moment the hands of myriads are locked in a magical chain,
That all continents, forests, mountain-ranges, begirds
And across silent realms of all oceans is outstretched unto brethren;
In cities that loom darkly up from deep horizons, tragical altars of sacrifice;
And where the sun, mystical lamp, suspended low from azure vaults,
Bloodily smoulders in smoke, circling over stations and cathedrals,
Palaces of kings and armies, council-chambers, prisons, amphitheatres,
And where the ardour of a myriad hearts in the twilit heaven of spirits
