Publisher's Synopsis
This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1908 edition. Excerpt: ... THE WRECK OF HEAVEN I I Had a vision: naught for miles and miles But shattered columns, shattered walls of gold, -And precious stones that from their place had roll'd, And lay in heaps, with litter'd golden tiles; While, here and there, amid the ruined piles Of gold and sardius, and their sparkling mould, Wild tufts of amaranth had taken hold, Scenting the golden desert like sweet isles. And not one soul, and not one step nor sound, Until there started up a haggard head Out of the gold, from somewhere underground. Wildly he eyed me and the wreck all round: "Who'rt thou?" quoth I. He shrilled a laugh and said: "The last of souls. I haunt this dazzling mound." n AY, ay, the gates of pearl are crumbling fast; The walls of beryl topple stone by stone; The throngs of souls in white and gold are gone; The jasper pillars lie where they were cast; The roofless halls of gold are dumb and vast; The courts of jacinth are for ever lone; Through shattered chrysolite the blind winds moan; And topaz moulders into earth at last. And earth is the reality: its hue Is brown and sad; its face is hard to till; Upon man's brow the sweat must hang like dew. But grain takes root, in valley, plain and hill, Tho' never Heaven's amaranth here grew. And grain breeds grain, and more and more grain still. V MISCELLANEO US WHAT THE SONNET IS Fourteen small broidered berries on the hem Of Circe's mantle, each of magic gold; Fourteen of lone Calypso's tears that roll'd Into the sea, for pearls to come of them; Fourteen clear signs of omen in the gem With which Medea human fate foretold; Fourteen small drops, which Faustus, growing old, Craved of the Fiend, to water Life's dry stem. It is the pure white diamond Dante brought To Beatrice; the sapphire Laura wore When...
