The Building of Time

字號(hào):


     But others of the Sons of Los build Moments and Minutes and Hours,
     And Days and Months and Years, and Ages and Periods: wondrous buildings!
     And every Moment has a Couch of gold for soft repose ——
     A Moment equals a pulsation of the artery ——
     And between every two Moments stands a Daughter of Beulah,
     To feed the Sleepers on their Couches with maternal care.
     And every Minute has an azure Tent with silken Veils;
     And every Hour has a bright golden Gate carvèd with skill;
     And every Day and Night has Walls of brass and Gates of adamant,
     Shining like precious stones, and ornamented with appropriate signs;
     And every Month a silver-pavèd Terrace, builded high;
     And every Year invulnerable Barriers with high Towers;
     And every Age is moated deep with Bridges of silver and gold;
     And every Seven Ages is encircled with a Flaming Fire.
     Now Seven Ages is amounting to Two Hundred Years:
     Each has its Guard, each Moment, Minute, Hour, Day, Month and Year;
     All are the work of Fairy hands of the Four Elements:
     The Guard are Angels of Providence on duty evermore.
     Every Time less than a pulsation of the artery
     Is equal in its period and value to Six Thousand Years;
     For in this Period the Poet's Work is done; and all the great
     Events of Time start forth and are conceiv'd in such a Period,
     Within a Moment, a Pulsation of the Artery.