The golden head was Babylon; she passed: Persia came next, the silvern breast: whereto Joined brazen flank and belly--these are you, Ye men of Macedon! Now Rome's the last....
That Lady who to Caesar came in state Upon the Rubicon, what time she feared Ruin from those strange races who appeared Erewhile to build her empire strong and great,...
Here bend in boundless wonder; bow your head: Think how God's deathless Mind, that men might be Robed in celestial immortality (O Love divine!), in flesh was raimented:...
O you who love the part more than the whole, And love yourself more than all human kind, Who persecute good men with prudence blind Because they combat your malign control,...
'Behold, I am a Sophist!' no man saith. But the true sons of perfidy refined Forge theologic lies the soul to blind, Calling themselves evangels of the faith....
Organ of rut, not reason, is the lord Who from the body politic doth drain Lust for himself, instead of toil and pain, Leaving us lean as crickets on dry sward....
To quell three Titan evils I was made,-- Tyranny, Sophistry, Hypocrisy; Whence I perceive with what wise harmony Themis on me Love, Power, and Wisdom laid....
As to the centre all things that have weight Sink from the surface: as the silly mouse Runs at a venture, rash though timorous, Into the monster's jaws to meet her fate:...
Clothed in white robes I see the Holy Sire Descend to hold his court amid the band Of shining saints and elders: at his hand The white immortal Lamb commands their choir....
Nature, by God directed, formed in space The universal comedy we see; Wherein each star, each man, each entity, Each living creature, hath its part and place: ...
Nay, God forbid that mid these tragic throes To idle comedy my thought should bend, When torments dire and warning woes portend Of this our world the instantaneous close!...