The subtle spirit of the sky, Alastor of my solitude, Thrilled all my working pulses high With visions of life’s magnitude— (The wondrous vision of the whole!) At once upon my startled eye, Stood naked the primeval law, Life’s noiseless currents eddied by, The universal heart I saw, Swayed by the cosmic oversoul.— I trembled but I did not fall, I ceased, and yet I did not die, But from my eyes there fell the pall, My soul no longer wondered why: I knew the secret of the world, Of night and day, of life and death, For one brief instant, onward whirled, My being breathed with godlike breath: The sky spun like a mighty bowl, I saw the wheat in billows roll. Edward O. Jackson. Transcriber’s Notes --Created an eBook cover from elements within the issue. --Reconstructed the Table of Contents (originally on each issue’s cover). --Retained copyright notice on the original book (this eBook is public-domain in the country of publication.) --Silently corrected a few palpable typos. End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Birds and Nature, Vol. 12 No. 4 [September 1902], by Various