To the Mind of Man

Thou living light that in thy rainbow hues

Clothest this naked world; and over Sea

And Earth and air, and all the shapes that be

In peopled darkness of this wondrous world

The Spirit of thy glory dost diffuse

truththou Vital Flame

Mysterious thought that in this mortal frame

Of things, with unextinguished lustre burnest

Now pale and faint now high to Heaven upcurled

That eer as thou dost languish still returnest

And ever

Before thebefore the Pyramids

So soon as from the Earth formless and rude

One living step had chased drear Solitude

Thou wert, Thought; thy brightness charmed the lids

Of the vast snake Eternity, who kept

The tree of good and evil.—