Canto II.]
Orion.
69
Of Time's great wings which ne'er had driven me,
By dread events nor broken-down old age,
Back on myself, the close experience
Of false mankind, with whispers cold and dry
As snake-songs midst stone hollows, thus has taught me—
The giant hunter, laughed at by the world,—
Not to forget the substance in the dream
Which breeds it. Both must merge in one.
Now shall I overcome thee, body and soul,
And like a new-made element brood o'er thee
With all-devouring murmurs! Come, thou storm,
And clasp the rigid pine—this mortal frame
Wrap with thy whirlwinds, rend and wrestle down,
And let my being solve its destiny,
Defying, seeking, thine extremest power,
Famished and thirsty for the absorbing doom
Of that immortal death which leads to life,
And gives a glimpse of heaven's parental scheme."
By dread events nor broken-down old age,
Back on myself, the close experience
Of false mankind, with whispers cold and dry
As snake-songs midst stone hollows, thus has taught me—
The giant hunter, laughed at by the world,—
Not to forget the substance in the dream
Which breeds it. Both must merge in one.
Now shall I overcome thee, body and soul,
And like a new-made element brood o'er thee
With all-devouring murmurs! Come, thou storm,
And clasp the rigid pine—this mortal frame
Wrap with thy whirlwinds, rend and wrestle down,
And let my being solve its destiny,
Defying, seeking, thine extremest power,
Famished and thirsty for the absorbing doom
Of that immortal death which leads to life,
And gives a glimpse of heaven's parental scheme."
