THE REPEAL

I dreamed the Eternal had repealed

His cosmic code of law last night.

Our prayers had made the Unchanging yield.

Caprice was king from depth to height.

On Beachy Head a shouting throng

Had fired a beacon to proclaim

Their licence. With unmeasured song

They proved it, dancing in the flame.

They quarrelled. One desired the sun,

And one desired the stars to shine.

They closed and wrestled and burned as one,

And the white chalk grew red as wine.

The furnace licked and purred and rolled,

A laughing child held up its hands

Like dreadful torches, dropping gold;

For pain was dead at their commands.

Painless and wild as clouds they burned,

Till the restricted Rose of Day

With all its glorious laws returned,

And the wind blew their ashes away.