| Nicholson & Lee, eds. The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917. |
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| 88. The Goddess’s Song from ‘Al Aaraaf’ |
| By Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) |
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| SPIRIT! that dwellest where, | |
| In the deep sky, | |
| The terrible and fair, | |
| In beauty vie! | |
| Beyond the line of blue— | 5 |
| The boundary of the star | |
| Which turneth at the view | |
| Of thy barrier and thy bar— | |
| Of the barrier overgone | |
| By the comets who were cast | 10 |
| From their pride and from their throne | |
| To be drudges till the last— | |
| To be carriers of fire | |
| (The red fire of their heart) | |
| With speed that may not tire | 15 |
| And with pain that shall not part— | |
| Who livest—that we know— | |
| In Eternity—we feel— | |
| But the shadow of whose brow | |
| What spirit shall reveal? | 20 |
| Though the beings whom thy Nesace, | |
| Thy messenger hath known, | |
| Have dreamed for thy Infinity | |
| A model of their own— | |
| Thy will is done, O God! | 25 |
| The star hath ridden high | |
| Through many a tempest, but she rode | |
| Beneath thy burning eye; | |
| And here, in thought, to thee— | |
| In thought that can alone | 30 |
| Ascend thy empire, and so be | |
| A partner of thy throne— | |
| By wingèd Fantasy, | |
| My embassy is given, | |
| Till secrecy shall knowledge be | 35 |
| In the environs of Heaven. | |
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