| I WAS among multitudes of children | |
| Dancing at the foot of a mountain. | |
| A breeze blew out of the east and swept them as leaves, | |
| Driving some up the slopes.... All was changed. | |
| Here were flying lights, and mystic moons, and dream-music. | 5 |
| A cloud fell upon us. When it lifted all was changed. | |
| I was now amid multitudes who were wrangling. | |
| Then a figure in shimmering gold, and one with a trumpet, | |
| And one with a sceptre stood before me. | |
| They mocked me and danced a rigadoon and vanished.... | 10 |
| All was changed again. Out of a bower of poppies | |
| A woman bared her breasts and lifted her open mouth to mine. | |
| I kissed her. The taste of her lips was like salt. | |
| She left blood on my lips. I fell exhausted. | |
| I arose and ascended higher, but a mist as from an iceberg | 15 |
| Clouded my steps. I was cold and in pain. | |
| Then the sun streamed on me again, | |
| And I saw the mists below me hiding all below them. | |
| And I, bent over my staff, knew myself | |
| Silhouetted against the snow. And above me | 20 |
| Was the soundless air, pierced by a cone of ice, | |
| Over which hung a solitary star! | |
| A shudder of ecstasy, a shudder of fear | |
| Ran through me. But I could not return to the slopes— | |
| Nay, I wished not to return. | 25 |
| For the spent waves of the symphony of freedom | |
| Lapped the ethereal cliffs about me. | |
| Therefore I climbed to the pinnacle. | |
| I flung away my staff. | |
| I touched that star | 30 |
| With my outstretched hand. | |
| I vanished utterly. | |
| For the mountain delivers to Infinite Truth | |
| Whosoever touches the star! | |
