On a Bad Singer
Swans sing before they die—’twere no bad thing
Should certain persons die before they sing.
Ne Plus Ultra
Sole Positive of Night!
Antipathist of Light!
Fate’s only essence! primal scorpion rod—
The one permitted opposite of God!—
Condensed blackness and abysmal storm
Compacted to one sceptre
Arms the Grasp enorm—
The Interceptor—
The Substance that still casts the shadow
Death!—
The Dragon foul and fell—
The unrevealable,
And hidden one, whose breath
Gives wind and fuel to the fires of Hell!—
Ah! sole despair
Of both the eternities in Heaven!
Sole interdict of all-bedewing prayer,
The all-compassionate!
Save to the Lampads Seven
Reveal’d to none of all the Angelic State,
Save to the Lampads Seven,
That watch the throne of Heaven!
?1826.