Ecstasy

Delacroix, lake of blood ill angels haunt, Where evergreen o'ershadowing woods arise; Under the surly heaven strange fanfares chant, And pass, like one of Weber's strangled sighs.

And malediction, blasphemy, and groan, Ecstasies, cries, Te Deums, and tears of brine, Are echoes through a thousand labyrinths flown, For mortal hearts an opiate divine.

A shout cried by a thousand sentinels, An order from a thousand bugles tossed, A beacon o'er a thousand citadels, A call to huntsmen in deep woodlands lost.

It is the mightiest witness that could rise To prove our dignity, O Lord, to Thee, This sob that rolls from age to age and dies Upon the verge of Thy eternity! End of poem.

Chapter 2.

Illumination and Ecstasy.

God, who is described in the Quran as the light of the heavens and the earth, cannot be seen by the bodily eye.

He is visible only to the inward sight of the heart.