The Mystic [poem by Mary E. Fullerton]

[Editor: This poem by Mary Eliza Fullerton was published in Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics (1908).]

The Mystic

He stands enwrapt upon an Alpine pass —
He in the light and under him the mist,
His brow by glory and by knowledge kissed,
His mouth oracular as Moses’ was
Unto the Tribes; but his no law of brass —
No “shalt” nor “shalt not” to the men who list
Far down his Alps of hazy amethyst
His mystic planes of heaven-reflecting glass.

And some are faint and cannot breathe his air;
But some grow strong where others faint and fail,
And, climbing up high pathways, unaware
Breaks luminous from out the cloudy veil
His vision and becomes their vision rare,
The sea cerulean where the lost gods sail.

Source:
Mary E. Fullerton, Moods and Melodies: Sonnets and Lyrics, Melbourne: Thomas C. Lothian, 1908, p. 13

Editor’s notes:
amethyst = a purplish tint or moderately purple (from amethyst, the purple or violet transparent quartz used as a gemstone)

cerulean = (also spelt “caerulean”) sky-blue; a deep blue colour; blue the colour of a clear blue sky

list = (archaic) listen