To whose ecstatic love th’ Eternal Three

Sublime and hidden mysteries did unroll.

A heart, a living heart, is throbbing here!

A heart whose every fibre[[41]] thrilled to One

Unknown to human wisdom, yet most clear

To him, whose spirit, as a luminous sun,

Caught from the splendors of high heaven’s sphere,

A light for centuries set in shadows dun.

O shadows dark and sad! with prophet-gaze

Did he foresee your baneful, blinding cloud