A vision

I lost the love of heaven above,

I spurned the lust of earth below,

I felt the sweets of fancied love

And hell itself my only foe.

I lost earth's joys but felt the glow

Of heaven's flame abound in me

Till loveliness and I did grow

The bard of immortality.

I loved but woman fell away

I hid me from her faded fame,

I snatched the sun's eternal ray

And wrote till earth was but a name

In every language upon earth,

On every shore, o'er every sea,

I give my name immortal birth

And kept my spirit with the free.