From mortal seed, unheeded, falsehood sprang;
It lived, it grew, and shadowed all the earth.
Iniquity rose up against the laws
Ordained to hedge and guard our frailty round;
What perished there was never called again,
But smouldered, ash on long-abandoned hearths.
Yet in that waste, unseen, the warders stood,
Who offered trials, and with each due guerdon.
Their secret zeal broke old ancestral bonds,
Dissolving ancient curses from the blood,
And opened in the soul a gate for speech
Divine, that dares the heart to answer, “Here.”
Then He sent forth bright serpents from the height,
Wing’d creatures of the heavens, who within
His presence cry, “Holy, holy, holy.”
Their rustling plumes drew veils b’fore their faces,
That none might look upon their searing gaze;
With twain they hid their feet in lowly awe,
On twain they flew, as living, circling shields,
A wall of flame about His hidden throne.
“Unclean am I among a people stained,”
I whispered at the breaking edge of dawn;
And there I saw the fiery serpent stand,
Whose blinding whiteness swallowed up the dark.
His eyes were torches, inward-kindled lamps,
Lashes flashed judgment from discerning light.
He touched my lips with one live coal and said:
“This hath now touched thy lips, and lo, thy sin
Is taken from thee, and thy guilt made clean.”
Then sanctifying fervour filled the house;
The pillars trembled with consuming fire.
My weakness melted in the glowing air;
Strength, not mine own, returned into my bones,
And I went out changed.