Classic Poem

I STOOD within a vision's spell;
I saw, I heard. The liquid thunder
Went pouring to its foaming hell,
And it fell,
Ever, ever fell
Into the invisible abyss that opened under.

I stood upon a speck of ground;
Before me fell a stormy ocean.
I was like a captive bound;
And around
A universe of sound
Troubled the heavens with ever-quivering motion.

Down, down for ever, — down, down for ever,
Something falling, falling, falling,
Up, up for ever — up, up for ever,
Resting never,
Boiling up for ever,
Steam-clouds shot up with thunder-bursts appalling.

A tone that since the birth of man,
Was never for a moment broken,
A word that since the world began,
And waters ran
Hath spoken still to man, —
Of God and of Eternity hath spoken.

Foam-clouds there for ever rise
With a restless roar o'erboiling —
Rainbows stooping from the skies
Charm the eyes,
Beautiful they rise,
Cheering the cataracts to their mighty toiling.

And in that vision as it passed,
Was gathered terror, beauty, power:
And still when all has fled, too fast,
And I at last
Dream of the dreamy past,
My heart is full when lingering on that hour.