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And this I know: whether the one True Light,

Kindle to Love, or Wrath consume me quite,

One Glimpse of It within the Tavern caught

Better than in the Temple lost outright.

And lately, by the Tavern Door agape,

Came shining through the Dusk an Angel Shape

Bearing a Vessel on his Shoulder; and

He bid me taste of it; and 'twas — the Grape!

We are no other than a moving row

Of Magic Shadow-shapes that come and go

Round with the Sun-illumined Lantern held

In Midnight by the Master of the Show;

One Moment in Annihilation's Waste,

One moment, of the Well of Life to taste —

The Stars are setting, and the Caravan

Starts for the dawn of Nothing — Oh, make haste!

The Revelations of Devout and Learn'd

Who rose before us, and as Prophets burn'd,

Are all but Stories, which, awoke from Sleep,

They told their comrades, and to Sleep return'd.

I sent my Soul through the Invisible,

Some letter of that After-life to spell:

And by and by my Soul return'd to me,

And answer'd "I Myself am Heav'n and Hell."

Heav'n but the Vision of fulfill'd Desire,

And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire,

Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves,

So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.

What, without asking, hither hurried whence?

And, without asking, whither hurried hence!

Another and another Cup to drown

The Memory of this Impertinence!

The Ball no Question makes of Ayes and Noes,

But Right or Left as strikes the Player goes;

And He that toss'd Thee down into the Field,

He knows about it all — knows — HE knows!

But helpless Pieces of the Game He plays

Upon this Chequer-board of Nights and Days;

Hither and thither moves, and checks, and slays,

And one by one back in the Closet lays.

Would you that spangle of Existence spend

About the Secret — Quick about it, Friend!

A Hair perhaps divides the False and True —

And upon what, prithee, may life depend?

The Moving Finger writes; and, having writ,

Moves on: nor all thy Piety nor Wit

Shall lure it back to cancel half a Line,

Nor all thy Tears wash out a Word of it.