Part 15 (1/2)

But, sure, the sky is big, I said; Miles and miles above my head; So here upon my back I'll lie And look my fill into the sky.

And so I looked, and, after all, The sky was not so very tall.

The sky, I said, must somewhere stop, And -- sure enough! -- I see the top!

The sky, I thought, is not so grand; I 'most could touch it with my hand!

And, reaching up my hand to try, I screamed to feel it touch the sky.

I screamed, and -- lo! -- Infinity Came down and settled over me; And, pressing of the Undefined The definition on my mind, Held up before my eyes a gla.s.s Through which my shrinking sight did pa.s.s Until it seemed I must behold Immensity made manifold; Whispered to me a word whose sound Deafened the air for worlds around, And brought unm.u.f.fled to my ears The gossiping of friendly spheres, The creaking of the tented sky, The ticking of Eternity.

I saw and heard, and knew at last The How and Why of all things, past, And present, and forevermore.

The universe, cleft to the core, Lay open to my probing sense That, sick'ning, I would fain pluck thence But could not, -- nay! But needs must suck At the great wound, and could not pluck My lips away till I had drawn All venom out. -- Ah, fearful p.a.w.n!

For my omniscience paid I toll In infinite remorse of soul.

All sin was of my sinning, all Atoning mine, and mine the gall Of all regret. Mine was the weight Of every brooded wrong, the hate That stood behind each envious thrust, Mine every greed, mine every l.u.s.t.

And all the while for every grief, Each suffering, I craved relief With individual desire, -- Craved all in vain! And felt fierce fire About a thousand people crawl; Perished with each, -- then mourned for all!

A man was starving in Capri; He moved his eyes and looked at me; I felt his gaze, I heard his moan, And knew his hunger as my own.

I saw at sea a great fog-bank Between two s.h.i.+ps that struck and sank; A thousand screams the heavens smote; And every scream tore through my throat.

No hurt I did not feel, no death That was not mine; mine each last breath That, crying, met an answering cry From the compa.s.sion that was I.

All suffering mine, and mine its rod; Mine, pity like the pity of G.o.d.

Ah, awful weight! Infinity Pressed down upon the finite Me!

My anguished spirit, like a bird, Beating against my lips I heard; Yet lay the weight so close about There was no room for it without.

And so beneath the Weight lay I And suffered death, but could not die.

Long had I lain thus, craving death, When quietly the earth beneath Gave way, and inch by inch, so great At last had grown the crus.h.i.+ng weight, Into the earth I sank till I Full six feet under ground did lie, And sank no more, -- there is no weight Can follow here, however great.

From off my breast I felt it roll, And as it went my tortured soul Burst forth and fled in such a gust That all about me swirled the dust.

Deep in the earth I rested now; Cool is its hand upon the brow And soft its breast beneath the head Of one who is so gladly dead.

And all at once, and over all, The pitying rain began to fall; I lay and heard each pattering hoof Upon my lowly, thatched roof, And seemed to love the sound far more Than ever I had done before.

For rain it hath a friendly sound To one who's six feet underground; And scarce the friendly voice or face: A grave is such a quiet place.

The rain, I said, is kind to come And speak to me in my new home.

I would I were alive again To kiss the fingers of the rain, To drink into my eyes the s.h.i.+ne Of every slanting silver line, To catch the freshened, fragrant breeze From drenched and dripping apple-trees.

For soon the shower will be done, And then the broad face of the sun Will laugh above the rain-soaked earth Until the world with answering mirth Shakes joyously, and each round drop Rolls, twinkling, from its gra.s.s-blade top.

How can I bear it; buried here, While overhead the sky grows clear And blue again after the storm?

O, multi-colored, multiform, Beloved beauty over me, That I shall never, never see Again! Spring-silver, autumn-gold, That I shall never more behold!

Sleeping your myriad magics through, Close-sepulchred away from you!

O G.o.d, I cried, give me new birth, And put me back upon the earth!

Upset each cloud's gigantic gourd And let the heavy rain, down-poured In one big torrent, set me free, Was.h.i.+ng my grave away from me!