Oh I marvellous the skies <br />Ere sunset close <br />Its rich, enormous rose, <br />Or dawn, too late, <br />Seem a supernal gate <br />That opens into midmost Paradise ! <br /> <br />And yet more fair and strange <br />The silent dome <br />Of midnight's vigilled home, <br />Where star and star <br />The silent sentries arc <br />Of ramparts built beyond the reach of change. <br /> <br />A thousand years from hence <br />Could I again <br />Within the House of Pain <br />Stand forth and see, <br />Their solemn legionry <br />Were stationed in the Vast's circumference. <br /> <br />In governed ranks unstirred <br />Shall they abide, <br />In panoply and pride <br />Of guarding flame— <br />The watchword still the same <br />And changeless still their battle-song unheard. <br /> <br />But man flow changed, I dream! <br />At last, at last, <br />Made wiser by the past, <br />Shall not he cease <br />From deeds that mar his peace, <br />And human Brotherhood be found supreme? <br /> <br />Shall not the nations laugh, <br />And in their joy <br />War's crimson fane destroy, <br />And love assoil <br />The darker stains of toil- <br />Burning dead laws and sophistries like chaff ? <br /> <br />Oh! by the years made wise, <br />Joy man forego <br />Joy from his brother's woe, <br />Till o'er the mirth <br />Of our transfigured earth <br />The stars shall beam as once o'er Paradise !<br /><br />George Sterling<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/caeli-enarrant/
