I looked here;

And I saw the quick stream of menPouring ceaselessly,Filled with eager faces,A torrent of desire.I called to them,‘Where do you go? What do you see?’A thousand voices called to me.A thousand fingers pointed.‘Look! look! There!’I know not of it.But, lo! In the far sky shone a radianceIneffable, divine —A vision painted upon a pall;And sometimes…

And I was overjoyed at this.Together we hastened.Soon, too soon, were weWhere my eyes were useless,And I knew not the ways of my feet.I clung to the hand of my friend;But at last he cried, ‘I am lost.’

Often have I been to it,Even to its highest tower,From whence the world looks black.’‘Truth,’ said a traveller,‘Is a breath, a wind,A shadow, a phantom;Long have I pursued it,But never have I touchedThe hem of its garment.’And I believed the second traveller;For truth was to meA breath, a wind,A shadow, a phantom,And never had I…

Made He the hull and the sails,Held He the rudderReady for adjustment.Erect stood He, scanning His work proudly.Then — at fateful time — a wrong called,And God turned, heeding.Lo, the ship, at this opportunity, slipped slyly,Making cunning noiseless travel down the ways.So that, forever rudderless, it went upon the seasGoing ridiculous voyages,Making quaint progress,Turning as…

Little voices called in the darkness:‘Good-bye! Good-bye!’Then I stretched forth my arms.‘No — no — ‘There came whisperings in the wind‘Good-bye! Good-bye!’Little voices called in the darkness:‘Good-bye! Good-bye!’

Purple winds went moaning,Their wings drip-drippingWith bloodThat fell upon the earth.It, groaning thing,Turned black and sank.Then from the far cavernsOf dead sinsCame monsters, livid with desire.They fought,Wrangled over the world,A morsel.But of all sadness this was sad –A woman’s arms tried to shieldThe head of a sleeping manFrom the jaws of the final beast.