Mesmerism

I.     All I believed is true!     I am able yet     All I want, to get     By a method as strange as new:     Dare I trust the same to you? II.     If at night, when doors are shut,     And the wood-worm picks,     And the death-watch ticks,     And the bar has a flag of smut,     And a cats in the water-butt, III.     And the socket floats and flares,     And the house-beams groan,     And a foot unknown     Is surmised on the garret-stairs,     And the locks slip unawares, IV.     And the spider, to serve his ends,     By a sudden thread,     Arms and legs outspread,     On the tables midst descends,     Comes to find, God knows what friends! V.     If since eve drew in, I say,     I have sat and brought     (So to speak) my thought     To bear on the woman away,     Till I felt my hair turn grey. VI.     Till I seemed to have and hold,     In the vacancy     Twixt the wall and me,     From the hair-plaits chestnut gold     To the foot in its muslin fold. VII.     Have and hold, then and there,     Her, from head to foot,     Breathing and mute,     Passive and yet aware,     In the grasp of my steady stare. VIII.     Hold and have, there and then,     All her body and soul     That completes my Whole,     All that women add to men,     In the clutch of my steady ken. IX.     Having and holding, till     I imprint her fast     On the void at last     As the sun does whom he will     By the calotypists skill. X.     Then, if my hearts strength serve,     And through all and each     Of the veils I reach     To her soul and never swerve,     Knitting an iron nerve. XI.     Command her soul to advance     And inform the shape     Which has made escape     And before my countenance     Answers me glance for glance. XII.     I, still with a gesture fit     Of my hands that best     Do my souls behest,     Pointing the power from it,     While myself do steadfast sit. XIII.     Steadfast and still the same     On my object bent,     While the hands give vent     To my ardour and my aim     And break into very flame. XIV.     Then I reach, I must believe,     Not her soul in vain,     For to me again     It reaches, and past retrieve     Is wound in the toils I weave. XV.     And must follow as I require,     As befits a thrall,     Bringing flesh and all,     Essence and earth-attire,     To the source of the tractile fire. XVI.     Till the house called hers, not mine,     With a growing weight     Seems to suffocate     If she break not its leaden line     And escape from its close confine. XVII.     Out of doors into the night!     On to the maze     Of the wild wood-ways,     Not turning to left nor right     From the pathway, blind with sight. XVIII.     Making thro rain and wind     Oer the broken shrubs,     Twixt the stems and stubs,     With a still, composed, strong mind,     Nor a care for the world behind. XIX.     Swifter and still more swift,     As the crowding peace     Doth to joy increase     In the wide blind eyes uplift     Thro the darkness and the drift! XX.     While I, to the shape, I too     Feel my soul dilate     Nor a whit abate,     And relax not a gesture due,     As I see my belief come true. XXI.     For, there! have I drawn or no     Life to that lip?     Do my fingers dip     In a flame which again they throw     On the cheek that breaks a-glow? XXII.     Ha! was the hair so first?     What, unfilleted,     Made alive, and spread     Through the void with a rich outburst,     Chestnut gold-interspersed! XXTII.     Like the doors of a casket-shrine,     See, on either side,     Her two arms divide     Till the heart betwixt makes sign,     Take me, for I am thine! XXIV.     Now, now, the door is heard!     Hark, the stairs! and near,     Nearer, and here,     Now! and at call the third     She enters without a word. XXV.     On doth she march and on     To the fancied shape,     It is, past escape,     Herself, now, the dream is done     And the shadow and she are one. XXVI.     First I will pray. Do Thou     That ownest the soul,     Yet wilt grant control     To another, nor disallow     For a time, restrain me now! XXVII.     I admonish me while I may,     Not to squander guilt,     Since require Thou wilt     At my hand its price one day     What the price is, who can say?