The Conversation

The Human Voice         You knew then, starting let us say with ether,         You would become electrons, out of whirling         Would rise to atoms; then as an atom resting         Till through Yourself in other atoms moving         And by the fine affinity of power         Atom with atom massed, You would go on         Over the crest of visible forms transformed,         Would be a molecule, a little system         Wherein the atoms move like suns and planets         With satellites, electrons. So as worlds build         From star-dust, as electron to electron,         The same attraction drawing, molecules         Would wed and pass over the crest again         Of visible forms, lying content as crystals,         Or colloids - ready now to use the gleam         Of life. As 'twere I see You with a match,         As one in darkness lights a candle, and one         Sees not his friend's form in the shadowed room         Until the candle's lighted? Even his form         Is darkened by the new-made light, he stands         So near it! Well, I add to all I've asked         Whether You knew the cell born to the glint         Of that same lighted candle would not rest         Even as electrons rest not - but would surge         Over the crest of visible forms, become         Beneath our feet things hidden from the eye         However aided, - as above our heads         Beyond the Milky Way great systems whirl         Beyond the telescope, - become bacilli,         Amoeba, starfish, swimming things, on land         The serpent, and then birds, and beasts of prey         The tiger (You in the tiger) on and on         Surging above the crest of visible forms until         The ape came - oh what ages they are to us -         But still creation flies on wings of light -         Then to the man who roamed the frozen fields         Neither man nor ape, - we found his jaw, You know,         At Heidelberg, in a sand-pit. On and on         Till Babylon was builded, and arose         Jerusalem and Memphis, Athens, Rome,         Venice and Florence, Paris, London, Berlin,         New York, Chicago - did You know, I ask,         All this would come of You in ether moving?     A Voice         I knew.     The Human Voice         You knew that man was born to be destroyed,         That as an atom perfect, whole, at ease,         Drawn to some other atom, is broken, changed         And rises o'er the crest of visible things         To something else - that man must pass as well         Through equal transformation. And You knew         The unutterable things of man's life: From the first         You saw his wracked Deucalion-soul that looks         Backward on life that rises, where he rose         Out of the stones. You saw him looking forward         Over the purple mists that hide the gulf.         Ere the green cell rose, even in the green cell         You saw the sequences of thought - You saw         That one would say, "All's matter" and another,         "All's mind," and man's mind which reflects the image,         Could not envision it. That even worship         Of what you are would be confused by cries         From India or Palestine. That love         Which sees itself beginning in the seeds,         Which fly and seek each other, maims         The soul at the last in loss of child or friend         Father or mother. And You knew that sex,         Ranging from plants through beasts and up to us         Had ties of filth - And out of them would rise         Diverse philosophies to tear the world.         You knew, when the green cell arose, that even         The You which formed it moving on would bring         Races and breeds, madmen, tyrants, slaves,         The idiot child, the murderer, the insane -         All springing from the action of one law.         You knew the enmity that lies between         The lives of micro-beings and our own. You knew         How man would rise to vision of himself:         Immortal only in the race's life.         And past the atom and the first glint of life,         Saw him with soul enraptured, yet o'ershadowed         Amid self-consciousness!     A Voice             I knew.         But this your fault: You see me as apart,         Over, removed, at enmity with You.         You are in Me, and of Me, even at one         With Me. But there's your soul - your soul may be         The germinal cell of vaster evolution.         Why try to tell you? If I gave a cell         Voice to inquire, and it should ask you this:         "After me what, a stalk, a flower, life         That swims or crawls?" And if I gave to you         Wisdom to say: "You shall become a reed         By the water's edge" - how could the cell foresee         What the reed is, bending beneath the wind         When the lake ripples and the skies are blue         As larkspur? Therefore I, who moved in darkness         Becoming light in suns and light in souls         And mind with thought - for what is thought but light         Sprung from the clash of ether? - I am with you.         And if beyond this stable state that stands         For your life here (as cells are whole and balanced         Till the inner urge bring union, then a breaking         And building up to higher life), there is         No memory of this world nor of your thought,         Nor sense of life on this world lived and borne;         Or whether you remember, know yourself         As one who lived here, suffered here, aspired -         What does it matter? - you cannot be lost,         As I am lost not. Therefore be at peace.         And from the laws whose orbits cross and run         To seeming tangles, find the law through which         Your soul shall be perfected till it draw, -         As the green cell the sunlight draws and turns         Its chemical effulgence into life -         My inner splendor. All the rest is mine         In infinite time. For if I should unroll         The parchment of the future, it were vain -         You could not read it.