The light it held throbbed with the glare
And beat of rapid wings.

Mine eyes I dared not try to raise;
My Lady's beamed on me
In fixed serenity of gaze,
And were what old sunshiny days
In childhood used to be.

A gasping lapse; and I was whirled
Round the faint void of space;
In dizzy circles hugely hurled,
I saw the constellated world
With every orb embrace,

To one stupendous vortex-light,
Spinning a fiery ram,
Then fail, struck out by sudden night;
When swung adown in headlong might,
Earth's touch shook through my brain.

The dumb sound in mine ears was burst
By her portentous voice;
As sweet as death to one accursed,
As unto one near blind for thirst
A running water's noise.

Her voice in some translucent star,
Remote, beyond my sight,
Was singing marvellously far;