61
Why, be this Juice the growth of
God, who dare
Blaspheme the twisted tendril as a Snare?
A Blessing, we should use it, should we not?
And if a Curse--why, then, Who set it there?
62
I must abjure the
Balm of Life, I must,
Scared by some After-reckoning
ta'en on trust,
Or lured with Hope of some Diviner Drink,
To fill the Cup--when crumbled into Dust!
63
Of threats of Hell and Hopes of
Paradise!
One thing at least is certain--
This Life flies;
One thing is certain and the rest is Lies;
The Flower that once has blown for ever dies.
64
Strange, is it not? that of the myriads who
Before us pass'd the door of Darkness through,
Not one returns to tell us of the Road,
Which to discover we must travel too.
65
The
Revelations of Devout and Learn'd
Who rose before us, and as
Prophets burn'd,
Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep
They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd.
66
I sent my
Soul through the Invisible,
Some letter of that After-life to spell:
And by and by my Soul return'd to me,
And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell"-
67
Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,
And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire,
Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves,
So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.
68
We are no other than a moving row
Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go
Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held
In Midnight by the Master of the Show;
69
But helpless Pieces of the Game
He plays Upon this
Chequer-board of Nights and Days;
Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,
And one by one back in the Closet lays.
70
The Ball no question makes of Ayes and Noes,
But Here or There as strikes the Player goes;
And He that toss'd you down into the Field,
He knows about it all--HE knows--HE knows!
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FitzGerald's notes:
68.
Fanusi khiyal, a Magic-
lanthorn still used in
India; the cylindrical Interior being painted with various Figures, and so lightly poised and ventilated as to revolve round the lighted Candle within.
70. A very mysterious Line in the Original:
"O
danad O danad O danad O--"
breaking off something like our
Wood-pigeon's Note, which she is said to take up just where she left off.