XIII
AT SEA OFF THE ISLE OF MAN
Bold words affirmed, in days when faith was strong
And doubts and scruples seldom teazed the brain,
That[845] no adventurer's bark had power to gain
These shores if he approached them bent on wrong;
For, suddenly up-conjured from the Main, 5
Mists rose to hide the Land—that search, though long
And eager, might be still pursued in vain.
O Fancy, what an age was that for song!
That age, when not by laws inanimate,
As men believed, the waters were impelled, 10
The air controlled, the stars their courses held;
But element and orb on acts did wait
Of Powers endued with visible form, instinct
With will, and to their work by passion linked.
FOOTNOTES:
[845] 1837.
... strong,
That ... 1835.
XIV
"DESIRE WE PAST ILLUSIONS TO RECAL"
Desire we past illusions to recal?
To reinstate wild Fancy, would we hide
Truth whose thick veil Science has drawn aside?
No,—let this Age, high as she may, instal
In her esteem the thirst that wrought man's fall, 5
The universe is infinitely wide;
And conquering Reason, if self-glorified,
Can nowhere move uncrossed by some new wall
Or gulf of mystery, which thou alone,
Imaginative Faith! canst overleap, 10
In progress toward the fount of Love,—the throne
Of Power whose ministers the[846] records keep
Of periods fixed, and laws established, less
Flesh to exalt than prove its nothingness.