As, swifter than a swooping kite, he flashed Adown the gloom. His flowing mane broad borne Out level, like another wing; his feet With slow ellipses moving alternate, As if he trod an unseen path. ’Twas grand To see his graceful form, more snowy white Against the black relief, sublimely float Across the dark profound, and down its depths, Pass from my view. As when an Eagle soars Beyond our vision in the azure sky, We wonder what he sees, or whither flies, So I stood wondering if he would return, And what his destination down th’ abyss. Above, around, all was infinitude Of light and harmony. The worlds moved on, In mazy multitude, without a jar, Star circling planet, planet sun, and suns In systems, farther yet and farther still, Till multiplying millions mingled formed A sheet of milky hue. And far beyond The last pale star, appeared a dazzling spot, That flamed with brightness so ineffable The eye shrank ’neath its gleam. And from its light, Athwart the endless realms of space, there streamed A radiance that illumed the Universe, And down across the chasm of Chaos flung A wavering band of purple and of gold. And in that distant spot my ’wildered eyes Traced out the figure of a Great White Throne, Round which, in grand and solemn majesty, Slow swept Creation’s boundless macrocosm.-- I felt too insignificant to pray, But mutely waited for the Angel’s words. He spoke not, but the curtains closer drew, And left a narrow opening in front. Then with a speed the lightning ne’er attained, Our cloud pavilion swiftly whirled through space. A seed that would have slain me with its haste, Had not the Angel been so near. As on the cars, We dash through towns, and mark the hurrying lights, Or shudder at an engine rattling by; So through our door, I marked the countless worlds, In clustering systems, chained by gravity, Flash by an endless course. A second’s time Sufficed to pass our little group of stars, That waltz about our Sun, as if it lit The very Universe. Then systems came, Round which our system moves, and these Round others, till the series grew so vast I shrank from looking. Great Alcyone, Our telescopic giantess, a babe Amid the monsters of the starry tribe, The last familiar face in Heaven’s throng, Blazed by the door; an instant, out of sight! And after all that we have known or named On Earth were far behind, the millions came In endless multitude; and on we swept, Till worlds became a dull monotony, And all the wonders of the Heavens were shown. A planet wheels its huge proportions past, Its pimpled face with red volcanoes thick, That, with our speed, seem girdling bands of light; A Sun, whose flame would fade our yellow spark,