ArtMagick Illustrated Poetry Collection

George William Russell (AE)

The Seer

Year written: 1897

From 'The Earth Breath and Other Poems' by A.E. (George William Russell).

Oh, if my spirit may foretell
    Or earlier impart,
It is because I always dwell
    With morning in my heart.

I feel the keen embrace of light
    Ere dawning on the view
It sprays the chilly fold of night
    With iridescent dew.

The robe of dust around it cast
    Hides not the earth below,
Its heart of ruby flame, the vast
    Mysterious gloom and glow.

Something beneath yon coward gaze
    Betrays the royal line;
Its lust and hate, but errant rays,
    Are at their root divine.

I hail the light of elder years
    Behind the niggard mould,
The fiery kings, the seraph seers,
    As in the age of gold.

And all about and through the gloom
    Breaths from the golden clime
Are wafted like a sweet perfume
    From some most ancient time.

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