Tost ’twixt passion and fear: tentatively

My eye shot roundabout,

Each freighting all my venture on a thought.

Then from the silvery glooms, a wizardry, fraught

With an imperative touch, fell on my soul,

Drawing all my thought thither with harsh control.

So, as I glowered upon its portals, wan,

Gaunt, lofty, lifting up a parlous height

Of shadowy phantasy, before its brink

Palely the air shivered, and its atoms shone