A SPIRIT PASSED BEFORE ME.

A spirit passed before me: I beheld

The face of Immortality unveiled —

Deep Sleep came down on every eye save mine —

And there it stood,— all formless — but divine:

Along my bones the creeping flesh did quake;

And as my damp hair stiffened, thus it spake:

“Is man more just than God? Is man more pure

Than he who deems even Seraphs insecure?

Creatures of clay — vain dwellers in the dust!

The moth survives you, and are ye more just?

Things of a day! you wither ere the night,

Heedless and blind to Wisdom's wasted light!”