Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: THE PROPHET. IV. I9. Tormented by the thirst for the spirit I was dragging myself in a sombre desert, And a six-winged seraph appeared Unto me on the parting of the roads. With fingers as light as a dream Mine eyes he touched: And mine eyes opened wise Like the eyes of a frightened eagle; He touched mine ears, And they filled with din and ringing. And I heard the trembling of the heavens And the flight of the angel's wings, And the creeping of the polyps in the sea, And the growth of the vine in the valley. And he took hold of my lips, And out he tore my sinful tongue With its empty and false speech. And the fang of the wise serpent Between my terrified lips he placed With bloody hand. The Prophet. 75 And ope he cut with sword my breast, And out he took my trembling heart, And a coal with flaming blaze Into the opened breast he shoved. Like a corpse I lay in the desert. And the voice of God unto me called: Arise, O prophet, and listen, and guide. Be thou filled with my will, And going over land and sea Fire with the word the hearts of men 1826.: Narrattbe.: Narrattfo, . THE OUTCAST. In. 5. On a rainy autumn evening Into desert places went a maid; And the secret fruit of unhappy love In her trembling hands she held. All was still: the hills and the woods Asleep in the darkness of the night. And her searching glances In terror about she cast. And on this babe, the innocent, Her glance she paused with a sigh: Asleep thou art, my child, my grief. Thou knowest not my sadness. Thine eyes will ope, and tho' with longing, To my breast shall no more cling. No kiss for thee to-morrow From thine unhappy mother. Beckon in vain for her thou wilt, My everlasting shame, m...