The inverted arch recoiled, and thou didst stand,

Amid their ghostly and distorted shapes

Serene and fair, thrice beautiful and calm.

Death and Hell—Darkness and Pain! Oh, my God!

We see their marks, we know not what they are,

But Thou, oh Christ! didst walk the dread abysm,

And from thyself a permeating light

Made darkness day. The adamantine bond

Broke from its clasp, and knew itself no more;

The jangling chord, that its own discord wailed,