“Oh, how my spirit longed for some lone crag
To part the gloom beneath, and rudely drag
My senses back! or with its shock to end
My dire existence;—­to oblivion send
Me quickly!  How I strove to curse, and break
That soundless Void, with shrieks or cries, to wake
That awful silence which around me spread! 
In vain! in vain! all but my soul was dead. 
And then my spirit soundless cried within: 
‘Oh, take me! take me back to Earth again!’
For tortures of the flesh were bliss and joy
To such existence!  Pain can never cloy
The smallest thrill of earthly happiness! 
’Twas joy to live on earth in pain!  I’ll bless
Thee, gods, if I may see its fields I’ve trod
To kiss its fragrant flowers, and clasp the sod
Of mother Earth, that grand and beauteous world! 
From all its happiness, alas! was hurled
My spirit,—­then in frenzy—­I awoke! 
Great Bel! a dream it was! as vanished smoke
It sped! and I sprang from my couch and prayed
To all the gods, and thus my soul allayed. 
And then with blessings on my lips, I sought
My couch, and dropped away in blissful thought
In dream the second: 

“Then the Silver Sky
Came to me.  Near the Stream of Life I lie: 
My couch the rarest flowers; and music thrills
My soul!  How soft and sweet it sounds from rills
And streams, and feathered songsters in the trees
Of Heaven’s fruits!—­e’en all that here doth please
The heart of man was there.  In a dear spot
I lay, ’mid olives, spices, where was wrought
A beauteous grotto; and beside me near,
Were friends I loved; and one both near and dear
With me reclined, in blissful converse, sweet
With tender thoughts. 
                      Our joy was full, complete! 
The ministering spirits there had spread
Before us all a banquet on the mead,
With Heaven’s food and nectar for our feast;
And oh, so happy!  How our joy increased
As moments flew, to years without an end! 
To Courts Refulgent there we oft did wend.

“Beside a silver lake, a holy fane
There stood within the centre of the plain,
High built on terraces, with walls of gold,
Where palaces and mansions there enfold
A temple of the gods, that stands within
’Mid feathery palms and gesdin[1] bowers green,
The city rises to a dizzy height,
With jewelled turrets flashing in the light,
Grand mansions piled on mansions rising high
Until the glowing summits reach the sky. 
A cloud of myriad wings, e’er fills the sky,
As doves around their nests on earth here fly;
The countless millions of the souls on earth,
The gods have brought to light from mortal birth,
Are carried there from the dark world of doom;
For countless numbers more there still is room. 
Through trailing vines my Love and I oft wind,
With arms of love around each other twined. 
This day, we passed along the Stream of Life,
Through blooming gardens, with sweet odors rife;
Beneath the ever-ripening fruits we walk,
Along dear paths, and sweetly sing, or talk,
While warbling birds around us fly in view,
From bloom to bloom with wings of every hue;
And large-eyed deer, no longer wild, us pass,
With young gazelles, and kiss each other’s face.