23 December 2010

The Turning of the Tide, part 3

Like a stab at that moment, over Crab and Bowman,
Over Maiden and Lion,* came the shock
Of returning life, the start and burning pang at heart,
Setting Galaxies to tingle and rock;
And the Lords dared to breathe, and swords were sheathed
And a rustling, a relaxing began,
With a rumour and noise of the resuming of joys,
On the nerves of the universe it ran.
Then pulsing into space with delicate, dulcet pace
Came a music, infinitely small
And clear. But it swelled and drew nearer and held
All worlds in the sharpness of its call.
And now divinely deep, and louder, with the sweep
and quiver of inebriating sound,
The vibrant dithyramb shook Libra and the Ram,
The brains of Aquarius spun round;
Such a note as neither Throne nor Potentate** had known
Since the Word first founded the abyss,
But this time it was changed in a mystery, estranged,
A paradox, an ambiguous bliss.***

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*All constellations, but here personified (see also Libra, the Ram, and Aquarius later).
**Members of the traditional angelic hierarchy.
***An allusion, I think, to Ephesians 3:4-10.

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