A gleam too blurred for guidance to the dark,

Shifting caprice of red and blue and gold

Flickering wanly from the troubled spark;

And other times a curl of azure smoke,

Like the last puff of incense that is seen

To vanish from the brazier, rose to cloak

The light until I feared it never had been.

But now the crystal-clear white globe of peace

Has closed my spirit in, that it may burn

Steadily to the stars, and henceforth cease