Thus do we end our exile; then it is
We find the last release, and rise,
Knowing the truth which testifies.
That pain and time and long captivity
And life and death and destined circumstance
Are only phases of our ignorance!
And thus it is at last that we,
After great love and long adjournments see
The pinnacles of thought lighten with song,
And all the spirits of the free,
Calm and majestic, move along
In an ascending theory!
While we stand with wings and will
Nerved to the task before us still;
While we watch with steadfast eyes
Clear and valiant as a bell
The flame of thought that never dies;
While we explore the secret none can tell;
While we prepare, in tense tranquillity,
For the inveterate miracle,
The soul's perennial truth,
The truth's perennial liberty!
