THE MYSTERY
20 lines✦
was not; now I am--a few days henceI shall not be; I fain would look beforeAnd after, but can neither do; some PowerOr lack of power says "no" to all I would.I stand upon a wide and sunless plain,Nor chart nor steel to guide my steps aright.Whene'er, o'ercoming fear, I dare to move,I grope without direction and by chance.Some feign to hear a voice and feel a handThat draws them ever upward thro' the gloom.But I--I hear no voice and touch no hand,Tho' oft thro' silence infinite I list,And strain my hearing to supernal sounds;Tho' oft thro' fateful darkness do I reach,And stretch my hand to find that other hand.I question of th' eternal bending skiesThat seem to neighbor with the novice earth;But they roll on, and daily shut their eyesOn me, as I one day shall do on them,And tell me not the secret that I ask.
✦