A ward, and still in bonds, one dayI stole abroad;
It was high spring, and all the
Primrosed and hung with shade;
Yet was it frost within,
And surly
Blasted my infant buds, and
Like clouds eclipsed my mind.
Stormed thus,
I straight perceived my
Mere stage and show,
My walk a monstrous mountained thing,
Rough-cast with rocks and snow;
And as a pilgrim's eye,
Far from relief,
Measures the melancholy sky,
Then drops and rains for grief,
So sighed I upwards still; at last'Twixt steps and falls I reached the pinnacle, where placedI found a pair of scales;
I took them up and
In th' one, late pains;
The other smoke and pleasures weighed,
But proved the heavier grains.
With that some cried, "Away!" Straight
Obeyed, and
Full east, a fair, fresh field could spy;
Some called it Jacob's bed,
A virgin soil which
Rude feet ere trod,
Where, since he stepped there, only
Prophets and friends of God.
Here I reposed; but scarce well set,
A grove descried Of stately height, whose branches
And mixed on every side;
I entered, and once in,
Amazed to see 't,
Found all was changed, and a new spring Did all my senses greet.
The unthrift sun shot vital gold,
A thousand pieces,
And heaven its azure did unfold,
Checkered with snowy fleeces;
The air was all in spice,
And every bushA garland wore; thus fed my eyes,
But all the ear lay hush.
Only a little fountain lent Some use for ears,
And on the dumb shades language spent,
The music of her tears;
I drew her near, and
The cistern
Of divers stones, some bright and round,
Others ill-shaped and dull.
The first, pray mark, as quick as
Danced through the flood,
But the last, more heavy than the night,
Nailed to the center stood;
I wondered much, but
At last with thought,
My restless eye that still desired As strange an object brought.
It was a bank of flowers where I descried,
Though 'twas midday,
Some fast asleep, others
And taking in the ray;
Here musing long,
I heardA rushing wind Which still increased, but whence it
No where I could not find.
I turned me round, and to each
Dispatched an
To see if any leaf had made Least motion or reply,
But while I list'ning
My mind to
By knowing where 'twas, or where not,
It whispered, "Where I please.""Lord," then said I, "on me one breath,
And let me die before my death!"Excerpt - Silex Scintillans
