The Turning Glass--Pasadena
HIGH in a separate room this platform turns,
Bright-wheeling implement of the lonely mind
That outward strains, tool of that lone desire
That drives past void and void to intercept
God on the farther fire. The platform turns,
Bearing the mirror men gave years to cast,
Bearing two watchers; high in the stainless air
They circle with the slowly hollowing glass,
They pour the rouge upon the grinding teeth.
Bright-wheeling implement of the lonely mind
That outward strains, tool of that lone desire
That drives past void and void to intercept
God on the farther fire. The platform turns,
Bearing the mirror men gave years to cast,
Bearing two watchers; high in the stainless air
They circle with the slowly hollowing glass,
They pour the rouge upon the grinding teeth.
Distant and Near in kindred circles move.
While our small planet flies the ecliptic path
The amazing hand sets on the spinning ball
This tiny scaffold which itself revolves,
Pursues that riven day when the disc will call
The star-swarm of some viewless universe
To cross its infinitesimal field, and crossing,
Yield a shadow-print for thought to ponder.
All moves toward that moment when the glass,
Turning Time backward on long paths of light,
Will pierce the network of celestial law
To origins whose faintly imaged flame
With wonder will expand the searching mind.
While our small planet flies the ecliptic path
The amazing hand sets on the spinning ball
This tiny scaffold which itself revolves,
Pursues that riven day when the disc will call
The star-swarm of some viewless universe
To cross its infinitesimal field, and crossing,
Yield a shadow-print for thought to ponder.
All moves toward that moment when the glass,
Turning Time backward on long paths of light,
Will pierce the network of celestial law
To origins whose faintly imaged flame
With wonder will expand the searching mind.
On every continent blind hungers drive
The brain against itself, the fingers down
In mad betrayal — the insane defeat.
Yet, in a separate room this platform turns;
Molten in the mighty mirror rides
Denial of that eyeless fury. Here,
Under controls divinely self-imposed
The sovereign mind advances star by star
Across the darkness of the cosmic night.
The brain against itself, the fingers down
In mad betrayal — the insane defeat.
Yet, in a separate room this platform turns;
Molten in the mighty mirror rides
Denial of that eyeless fury. Here,
Under controls divinely self-imposed
The sovereign mind advances star by star
Across the darkness of the cosmic night.