I

The universe is my own mind,
And of its being I am lord;
The dead beneath to dust consigned
Are to the eyes of thought restored;
And all that was to wisdom known
From time and life, to me is shown.

II

I have looked through the heart of man
And probed its weakness and its power,
His wisdom gleaned since time began;
The storms that agitate his hour
Of life, till life itself doth crave
A rest and refuge in the grave.

III

The rising and the setting sun
I worshipped; in his brow I saw
The molten image of the One;
I felt the table of the law
Of duty stamped upon his face;
The Unchangeable's own dwelling-place.

IV

Familiar lights of day obscured,
Making life one illusion, I,
Within this body's cell immured,
Looked through the starred infinity,
Till, gazing into space, I felt
Infinity within me dwelt;

V

That through the limitless inane,
Beyond the galaxies of light,
Wherever thrills the electric chain
Of being, I could wing my flight;
And, gazing, comprehend the whole,
Myself the all-absorbing soul!

VI

And I must die: this thoughtful spirit
Created Godhead to discern,
The crown of wisdom to inherit
From dust, must to that dust return;
And nought above, around, beneath,
Can shield me from almighty death!

VII

I said unto the worm, " Thou art
My brother," to corruption, " Thou
Must feed upon this living heart;"
This brain that shapes its marvels now,
That bodied forth, time, space, and God,
Must moulder in the lifeless sod.

VIII

This mass of life, infused with flame
Ethereal, must part, disjoined
In elements from whence it came;
The frame that met and formed the mind,
With all its wonderment, be cast
To earth, and dust become at last.

IX

This inner spirit formed to rule;
This heart with all its passion rife,
Reflecting back the beautiful,
In earth, and heaven, and answering life,
Must vanish from this glorious scene,
Become as it had never been.

X

What art thou, Death omnipotent!
Thou, to whom all subjected are?
Thou in whose withering grasp are blent
The flower, the sand-grain, and the star?
The base and pillars of the throne
Thou fillest, like thyself unknown.

XI

Worlds vanish out of heaven; their fall
Proves visibly thy silent sway:
States, kingdoms, earthly glories, all
Crumble to dust and pass away:
On rolls life's everlasting river;
Thou unmoved art, the same for ever!

XII

Kings, heroes, sages, thee obeyed;
Demon or god, all owned thy power;
Upon thy shrine their wreaths they laid,
Forgot the triumphs of their hour;
Thou lay'st thy hand upon the pride
Of those who all but thee defied.

XIII

Yet the sole source of life, O Death!
In thy great mystery thou art;
Thou quickenest being into breath,
And guard'st it from thyself apart;
Eternal changes, still the same,
Flow forth from thee, whate'er thy name:

XIV

Or art thou life, or art thou time,
Or, godlike, art thou both in one,
Thou dread of every age and clime?
Thou whom each moment life doth shun,
Though born and nurtured from thy breast,
Restless till there again it rest.

XV

O could I know thee ere this soul
Obeys in following thy tread,
An atom under thy control! —
Couldst thou the secrets of the dead
Reveal, that knowledge were to me
Thy pledge of immortality.