Part 4

He ceased; a sudden radiance round him shone, And all things melted like a phantom wrack. And as he swept his hands and stood alone He heard hoarse thunders and the dusk grew black. Vast tremors shook the world from side to side-- The earth and sky became a monstrous blot...

_And then it seems he woke, and waking, died; Calling on things that he had long forgot._

FUNERAL HYMN

When Life's gay courage fails at last, And I grow worse than old-- Though Death puts out my fiery heart, I never shall grow cold.

For warm is earth's green covering, And warmly I shall lie, Wrapped in the winding-sheets of air And the great, blue folds of sky!

PROTESTS

(_After a Painting by Hugo Ballin_)

Something impelled her from the hearth; Whispers and winds drew her along; But still, unconscious of the earth, She read her book of golden Song.

Old legends stirred her as she read Of life victoriously unfurled, Of glories gone but never dead, And Beauty that redeemed the world.

"Oh Songs," she sighed, "your world was fair; My own holds no such lovely things; No glow, no magic anywhere--" And then, a start--a flash of wings...

And, with the rush of surging seas, Over her swept the world's replies: The lyric hills, the buoyant breeze And all the sudden singing skies!