Above thee soared the Pleiades,
Beneath, Auriga flared;
His vast melodic harmonies
Rigel with Algol shared:
Space trembled to the minstrelsy
Of Deneb and Alcyone.
II
Aldebaran, Aldebaran,
Betelguese sheathed his sword,
And in that cosmic cry began
The music of his word;
He spoke in syllables so strong,
Each sentence was an æon long:
"Thou art"—he thundered, "the first star
To lead earth out of mist,
When man looked up and felt afar
Urge of an ancient tryst
Made ere God lit the morning sun
To mark the length of day begun.
"Thou threshold of the Zodiac;
Thou portal of the Rooms;
Thou first step of the starry Track:
Thou shuttle of the Looms
Where Fate weaves threads of purest gold
To fashion God's wide garment-fold—
"Hail!"—and: "All hail!" from every sphere
That rolled across the void,
I heard, Aldebaran, with fear:
Each clustered asteroid
Flung back the tumult of that cry,
Like trumpet-voices through the sky.
III
Then Vega rose and on her lyre
Played tremulous vast chords,
Singing the infinite desire
Of those celestial lords
Who shouted when earth's loom was laid,
And through the warp God's shuttle played;
When through the loom of misted flame
The threads of God began
To weave a world; before there came
Adventuring of man
Upon the Path of life to find
Monitions of eternal Mind.
She sang of forest and of fell,
Of mountain and of moor;
Caves and the caveman's battle-yell;
The song beside the door
Where women ground the meal and sung
Rhymes in their rude primeval tongue.