Parerga/My Soul Was Dark and Desolate

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MY SOUL WAS DARK AND DESOLATE.

Ἀκτῖνας ὄσσων μαρμαραζοίσαςδρακεὶς ὃς μὴ πόθῳ κυμαίνεταιἐξ ἀδάμαντος ἠὲ σιδάρου κεχάλκευταιμέλαιναν καρδίαν ψυχρᾷ φλογὶπρός τ' Ἁφροδίτας ἀτιμασθεὶς ἑλικοβλεφάρου.Pind. Scol. Fragm.
My soul was dark and desolate, Sorrowing from thee afar;Rayless and inanimate, Like a night without a star,  When the interlunar sky  Mourns the moon's inconstancy.
  At the dawn of thy return  Vital altars throb and burn;All the heaven of love is glowing In thine eye's unfolded blue;Light and life around thee flowing Waken hearts beneath thy view,  As the daybreak's gleams and showers  Call from sleep the shrouded flowers.
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Though my spirit, at the glance Of thy radiant countenance,Droops with dazzled aching sight,Overladen with delight; Still I feel thee gazing on me,And the thrilling influenceAnd the soul-dissolving senseOf thy presence float upon me,  Clasping the breast in a stifling zone,  Filling the ears with a silver tone  Sent from the heart—and the heart alone.
The cold clay-fetters are unloosed;My whole existence is transfusedBy the Great Passion's AlchemyInto one quivering flame for thee.As th' expanding flashing raysOf the summer noontide's blazeMelt the morning's mask of haze,And the atmosphere is kindledInto one glow of liquid lightBy the sun, that dim and dwindledLour'd forth on the orient height;But now in majesty of mightGladdens all around, above,Intense, omnipresent as Love.
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