The convolutions of a smooth-lipped shell; 1135 To which, in silence hushed,[398] his very soul Listened intensely; and his countenance soon Brightened with joy; for from within were heard Murmurings, whereby the monitor expressed[399] Mysterious union with its native sea. 1140 Even such a shell[FU] the universe itself Is to the ear of Faith; and there are times, I doubt not, when to you it doth impart Authentic tidings of invisible things; Of ebb and flow, and ever-during power; 1145 And central peace, subsisting at the heart Of endless agitation. Here you stand, Adore, and worship, when you know it not; Pious beyond the intention of your thought; Devout above the meaning of your will. 1150 --Yes, you have felt, and may not cease to feel. The estate of man would be indeed forlorn If false conclusions of the reasoning power Made the eye blind, and closed the passages 1154 Through which the ear converses with the heart. Has not the soul, the being of your life, Received a shock of awful consciousness, In some calm season, when these lofty rocks At night's approach bring down the unclouded sky, To rest upon their circumambient walls; 1160 A temple framing of dimensions vast, And yet not too enormous for the sound Of human anthems,--choral song, or burst Sublime of instrumental harmony, To glorify the Eternal! What if these 1165 Did never break the stillness that prevails Here,--if the solemn nightingale[FV] be mute, And the soft woodlark here did never chant Her vespers,[FW]--Nature fails not to provide Impulse and utterance. The whispering air 1170 Sends inspiration from the shadowy heights, And blind recesses of the caverned rocks; The little rills, and waters numberless, Inaudible by daylight, blend their notes With the loud streams: and often, at the hour 1175 When issue forth the first pale stars, is heard, Within the circuit of this fabric huge, One voice--the solitary raven, flying Athwart the concave of the dark blue dome, Unseen, perchance above all[400] power of sight-- 1180 An iron knell! with echoes from afar Faint--and still fainter--as the cry, with which The wanderer accompanies her flight Through the calm region, fades upon the ear, Diminishing by distance till it seemed 1185 To expire; yet from the abyss is caught again, And yet again recovered![FX] "But descending From these imaginative heights, that yield Far-stretching views into eternity, Acknowledge that to Nature's humbler power 1190 Your cherished sullenness is forced to bend