Oh!
thou clear spirit of clear fire, whom on these seas I as Persian once did worship, till in the sacramental act so burned by thee, that to this hour I bear the scar; I now know thee, thou clear spirit, and I now know that thy right worship is defiance.
To neither love nor reverence wilt thou be kind; and e’en for hate thou canst but kill; and all are killed.
No fearless fool now fronts thee.
I own thy speechless, placeless power; but to the last gasp of my earthquake life will dispute its unconditional, unintegral mastery in me.
In the midst of the personified impersonal, a personality stands here.
Though but a point at best; whencesoe’er I came; wheresoe’er I go; yet while I earthly live, the queenly personality lives in me, and feels her royal rights.
But war is pain, and hate is woe.
Come in thy lowest form of love, and I will kneel and kiss thee; but at thy highest, come as mere supernal power; and though thou launchest navies of full-freighted worlds, there’s that in here that still remains indifferent.
Oh, thou clear spirit, of thy fire thou madest me, and like a true child of fire, I breathe it back to thee.