The Moment came, with sacramental cup
Lifted — and all the vault of life grew bright
With tides of incommensurable light —
But tremblingly I turned and covered up
My face before the wonder. Down the slope
I heard her feet in irretrievable flight,
And when I looked again, my stricken sight
Saw night and rain in a dead world agrope.
Now walks her ghost beside me, whispering
With lips derisive: “Thou that wouldst forego —
What god assured thee that the cup I bring
Globes not in every drop the cosmic show,
All that the insatiate heart of man can wring
From life's long vintage?— Now thou shalt not know.”