No More Learning

Around his waist are forests braced,
The Avalanche in his hand;
But ere it fall, that thundering ball
Must pause for my command.
The Glacier's cold and restless mass
Moves onward day by day;
But I am he who bids it pass, 70
Or with its ice delay. [as]
I am the Spirit of the place,
Could make the mountain bow
And quiver to his caverned base--
And what with me would'st _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 80
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 rolled--
To the Spirit of Ocean
Thy wishes unfold!

FOURTH SPIRIT.

Where the slumbering Earthquake
Lies pillowed on fire,
And the lakes of bitumen 90
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 birthplace,
Thy bidding to bide--
Thy spell hath subdued me,
Thy will be my guide!

FIFTH SPIRIT.

I am the Rider of the wind, 100
The Stirrer of the storm;
The hurricane I left behind
Is yet with lightning warm;
To speed to thee, o'er shore and sea
I swept upon the blast:
The fleet I met sailed well--and yet
'Twill sink ere night be past.

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 no 110
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 bosomed not a lovelier star.
The Hour arrived--and it became
A wandering mass of shapeless flame,
A pathless Comet, and a curse,
The menace of the Universe;
Still rolling on with innate force, 120
Without a sphere, without a course,
A bright deformity on high,
The monster of the upper sky!
And Thou!
beneath its influence born--
Thou worm! whom I obey and scorn--
Forced by a Power (which is not thine,
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-- 130
What would'st thou, Child of Clay! with me? [112]

_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 would'st 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 140
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.

_Man_. Oblivion--self-oblivion!
Can ye not wring from out the hidden realms
Ye offer so profusely--what I ask?