<span> <span>ALL I could see from where I stood</span>Was three long mountains and a wood;I turned and looked the other way,And saw three islands in a bay.<span>So with my eyes I traced the line 5</span>Of the horizon, thin and fine,Straight around till I was comeBack to where I’d started from;And all I saw from where I stood<span>Was three long mountains and a wood. 10</span>Over these things I could not see:These were the things that bounded me;And I could touch them with my hand,Almost, I thought, from where I stand.<span>And all at once things seemed so small 15</span>My breath came short, and scarce at all.But, sure, the sky is big, I said;Miles and miles above my head;So here upon my back I’ll lie<span>And look my fill into the sky. 20</span>And so I looked, and, after all,The sky was not so very tall.The sky, I said, must somewhere stop,And—sure enough!—I see the top!<span>The sky, I thought, is not so grand; 25</span>I ’most could touch it with my hand!And reaching up my hand to try,I screamed to feel it touch the sky.I screamed, and—lo!—Infinity<span>Came down and settled over me; 30</span>Forced back my scream into my chest,Bent back my arm upon my breast,And, pressing of the UndefinedThe definition on my mind,<span>Held up before my eyes a glass 35</span>Through which my shrinking sight did passUntil it seemed I must beholdImmensity made manifold;Whispered to me a word whose sound<span>Deafened the air for worlds around, 40</span>And brought unmuffled to my earsThe gossiping of friendly spheres,The creaking of the tented sky,The ticking of Eternity.<span>I saw and heard and knew at last 45</span>The How and Why of all things, past,And present, and forevermore.The Universe, cleft to the core,Lay open to my probing sense<span>That, sick’ning, I would fain pluck thence 50</span>But could not,—nay! But needs must suckAt the great wound, and could not pluckMy lips away till I had drawnAll venom out.—Ah, fearful pawn!<span>For my omniscience paid I toll 55</span>In infinite remorse of soul.All sin was of my sinning, allAtoning mine, and mine the gallOf all regret. Mine was the weight<span>Of every brooded wrong, the hate 60</span>That stood behind each envious thrust,Mine every greed, mine every lust.And all the while for every grief,Each suffering, I craved relief<span>With individual desire,— 65</span>Craved all in vain! And felt fierce fireAbout a thousand people crawl;Perished with each,—then mourned for all!A man was starving in Capri;<span>He moved his eyes and looked at me; 70</span>I felt his gaze, I heard his moan,And knew his hunger as my own.I saw at sea a great fog bankBetween two ships that struck and sank;<span>A thousand screams the heavens smote; 75</span>And every scream tore through my throat.No hurt I did not feel, no deathThat was not mine; mine each last breathThat, crying, met an answering cry<span>From the compassion that was I. 80</span>All suffering mine, and mine its rod;Mine, pity like the pity of God.Ah, awful weight! InfinityPressed down upon the finite Me!<span>My anguished spirit, like a bird</span></span>
