With the azure and vermilion, Which is mix'd for my pavilion; Though thy quest may be forbidden, To thine adjuration bow'd, Voice of the SECOND SPIRIT. Mont Blanc is the monarch of mountains, On a throne of rocks, in a robe of clouds, Around his waist are forests braced, The Avalanche in his hand; But ere it fall, that thundering ball The Glacier's cold and restless mass I am the spirit of the place, Could make the mountain bow And quiver to his cavern'd base And what with me wouldst Thou? Voice of the THIRD SPIRIT. In the blue depth of the waters, Where the wave hath no strife, Where the wind is a stranger, And the sea-snake hath life, Where the Mermaid is decking Her green hair with shells; Like the storm on the surface Came the sound of thy spells; O'er my calm Hall of Coral The deep echo roll'd— To the Spirit of Ocean Thy wishes unfold! FOURTH SPIRIT. Where the slumbering earthquake Lies pillow'd on fire, And the lakes of bitumen Rise boilingly higher; Where the roots of the Andes Strike deep in the earth, As their summits to heaven Shoot soaringly forth; I have quitted my birth-place, Thy spell hath subdued me, FIFTH SPIRIT. I am the Rider of the wind, The hurricane I left behind Is yet with lightning warm; The fleet I met sailed well, and yet SIXTH SPIRIT. My dwelling is the shadow of the night, Why doth thy magic torture me with light? SEVENTH SPIRIT. The star which rules thy destiny, Was ruled, ere earth began, by me: It was a world as fresh and fair As e'er revolved round sun in air; Its course was free and regular, Space bosom'd not a lovelier star. Still rolling on with innate force, Without a sphere, without a course, The monster of the upper sky! And thou! beneath its influence born- And lent thee but to make thee mine) For this brief moment to descend, Where these weak spirits round thee bend And parley with a thing like thee What wouldst thou, Child of Clay! with me? The SEVEN SPIRITS. Earth, ocean, air, night, mountains, winds, thy star, Are at thy beck and bidding, Child of Clay! Before thee at thy quest their spirits are-- What wouldst thou with us, son of mortals-say? MAN. Forgetfulness— FIRST SPIRIT. Of what-of whom-and why? MAN. Of that which is within me; read it there— Ye know it, and I cannot utter it. SPIRIT. We can but give thee that which we possess : Ask of us subjects, sovereignty, the power O'er earth, the whole, or portion, or a sign Which shall control the elements, whereof We are the dominators, each and all, These shall be thine. Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms Ye offer so profusely what I ask? SPIRIT. It is not in our essence, in But-thou mayst die. MAN. Will death bestow it on me? our skill; SPIRIT. We are immortal, and do not forget; We are eternal; and to us the past Is, as the future, present. Art thou answered? MAN. Ye mock me-but the power which brought ye here Hath made you mine. Slaves, scoff not at my will! The mind, the spirit, the Promethean spark, The lightning of my being, is as bright, |