VI

The Moment came, with sacramental cup

Lifted — and all the vault of life grew bright

With tides of incommensurable light —

But tremblingly I turned and covered up

My face before the wonder. Down the slope

I heard her feet in irretrievable flight,

And when I looked again, my stricken sight

Saw night and rain in a dead world agrope.

Now walks her ghost beside me, whispering

With lips derisive: “Thou that wouldst forego —

What god assured thee that the cup I bring

Globes not in every drop the cosmic show,

All that the insatiate heart of man can wring

From life's long vintage?— Now thou shalt not know.”