Uriel
It
fell
in
the
ancient
periods
Which
the
brooding
soul
surveys,
Or
ever
the
wild
Time
coin'd
itself
Into
calendar
months
and
days.
This
was
the
lapse
of
Uriel,
Which
in
Paradise
befell.
Once,
among
the
Pleiads
walking,
Sayd
overheard
the
young
gods
talking;
And
the
treason,
too
long
pent,
To
his
ears
was
evident.
The
young
deities
discuss'd
Laws
of
form,
and
metre
just,
Orb,
quintessence,
and
sunbeams,
What
subsisteth,
and
what
seems.
One,
with
low
tones
that
decide,
And
doubt
and
reverend
use
defied,
With
a
look
that
solved
the
sphere,
And
stirr'd
the
devils
everywhere,
Gave
his
sentiment
divine
Against
the
being
of
a
line.
'Line
in
nature
is
not
found;
Unit
and
universe
are
round;
In
vain
produced,
all
rays
return;
Evil
will
bless,
and
ice
will
burn.'
As
Uriel
spoke
with
piercing
eye,
A
shudder
ran
around
the
sky;
The
stern
old
war-gods
shook
their
heads;
The
seraphs
frown'd
from
myrtle-beds;
Seem'd
to
the
holy
festival
The
rash
word
boded
ill
to
all;
The
balance-beam
of
Fate
was
bent;
The
bounds
of
good
and
ill
were
rent;
Strong
Hades
could
not
keep
his
own,
But
all
slid
to
confusion.
A
sad
self-knowledge
withering
fell
On
the
beauty
of
Uriel;
In
heaven
once
eminent,
the
god
Withdrew
that
hour
into
his
cloud;
Whether
doom'd
to
long
gyration
In
the
sea
of
generation,
Or
by
knowledge
grown
too
bright
To
hit
the
nerve
of
feebler
sight.
Straightway
a
forgetting
wind
Stole
over
the
celestial
kind,
And
their
lips
the
secret
kept,
If
in
ashes
the
fire-seed
slept.
But,
now
and
then,
truth-speaking
things
Shamed
the
angels'
veiling
wings;
And,
shrilling
from
the
solar
course,
Or
from
fruit
of
chemic
force,
Procession
of
a
soul
in
matter,
Or
the
speeding
change
of
water,
Or
out
of
the
good
of
evil
born,
Came
Uriel's
voice
of
cherub
scorn,
And
a
blush
tinged
the
upper
sky,
And
the
gods
shook,
they
knew
not
why
