Midnight.
Man. The lamp must be replenished, but even then It will not burn so long as I must watch: My slumbers—if I slumber—are not sleep, But a continuance, of enduring thought, Which then I can resist not: in my heart There is a vigil, and these eyes but close To look within; and yet I live, and bear The aspect and the form of breathing men. But Grief should be the Instructor of the wise; Sorrow is Knowledge: they who know the most10 Must mourn the deepest o'er the fatal truth, The Tree of Knowledge is not that of Life. Philosophy and science, and the springs108 Of Wonder, and the wisdom of the World, I have essayed, and in my mind there is A power to make these subject to itself— But they avail not: I have done men good, And I have met with good even among men— But this availed not: I have had my foes, And none have baffled, many fallen before me—20 But this availed not:—Good—or evil—life— Powers, passions—all I see in other beings, Have been to me as rain unto the sands, Since that all-nameless hour. I have no dread, And feel the curse to have no natural fear, Nor fluttering throb, that beats with hopes or wishes, Or lurking love of something on the earth. Now to my task.— Mysterious Agency! Ye Spirits of the unbounded Universe!ap Whom I have sought in darkness and in light—30 Ye, who do compass earth about, and dwell In subtler essence—ye, to whom the tops Of mountains inaccessible are haunts,aq And Earth's and Ocean's caves familiar things— I call upon ye by the written charm109 Which gives me power upon you—Rise! Appear! A pause. They come not yet.—Now by the voice of him Who is the first among you110—by this sign, Which makes you tremble—by the claims of him Who is undying,—Rise! Appear!—-- Appear!40 A pause. If it be so.—Spirits of Earth and Air, Ye shall not so elude me! By a power, Deeper than all yet urged, a tyrant-spell, Which had its birthplace in a star condemned, The burning wreck of a demolished world, A wandering hell in the eternal Space; By the strong curse which is upon my Soul,111 The thought which is within me and around me, I do compel ye to my will.—Appear!
A star is seen at the darker end of the gallery: it is stationary; and a voice is heard singing.]
First Spirit.
Mortal! to thy bidding bowed,50
From my mansion in the cloud,
Which the breath of Twilight builds,
And the Summer's sunset gilds
With the azure and vermilion,
Which is mixed for my pavilion;ar Though thy quest may be forbidden, On a star-beam I have ridden, To thine adjuration bowed: Mortal—be thy wish avowed!
Voice of the Second Spirit.
Mont Blanc is the Monarch of mountains;60
They crowned him long ago
On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds,
With a Diadem of snow.
Around his waist are forests braced,
The Avalanche in his hand;
But ere it fall, that thundering ball
Must pause for my command.
The Glacier's cold and restless mass
Moves onward day by day;
But I am he who bids it pass,70
Or with its ice delay.as I am the Spirit of the place, Could make the mountain bow And quiver to his caverned base— And what with me would'st Thou?
Voice of the Third Spirit.
In the blue depth of the waters,
Where the wave hath no strife,
Where the Wind is a stranger,
And the Sea-snake hath life,
Where the Mermaid is decking80
Her green hair with shells,
Like the storm on the surface
Came the sound of thy spells;
O'er my calm Hall of Coral
The deep Echo rolled—
To the Spirit of Ocean
Thy wishes unfold!
Fourth Spirit.
Where the slumbering Earthquake
Lies pillowed on fire,
And the lakes of bitumen90
Rise boilingly higher;
Where the roots of the Andes
Strike deep in the earth,
As their summits to heaven
Shoot soaringly forth;
I have quitted my birthplace,
Thy bidding to bide—
Thy spell hath subdued me,
Thy will be my guide!
Fifth Spirit.
I am the Rider of the wind,100
The Stirrer of the storm;
The hurricane I left behind
Is yet with lightning warm;
To speed to thee, o'er shore and sea
I swept upon the blast:
The fleet I met sailed well—and yet
'Twill sink ere night be past.
Sixth Spirit.
My dwelling is the shadow of the Night,
Why doth thy magic torture me with light?
Seventh Spirit.
The Star which rules thy destiny no110
Was ruled, ere earth began, by me:
It was a World as fresh and fair
As e'er revolved round Sun in air;
Its course was free and regular,
Space bosomed not a lovelier star.
The Hour arrived—and
