I have Emily's complete poems & many of them are very haunting, but there is one really mysterious one which I wonder about. Perhaps some of you have read this one. It was written February 3, 1845 and is on pages 220-21 of Hatfield's edition. ---------- "Enough of Thought, Philosopher; Too long hast thou been dreaming Unlightened, in this chamber drear While summer's sun is beaming-- Space-sweeping soul, what sad refrain Concludes thy musings once again? [italics] "O for the time when I shall sleep Without identity, And never care how rain may steep Or snow may cover me! "No promised Heaven, these wild Desires Could all or half fulfill; No threatened Hell, with quenchless fires, Subdue this quenchless will!" [end italics] --So said I, and still say the same; --Still to my Death will say-- Three Gods within this little frame Are warring night and day. Heaven could not hold them all, and yet They all are held in me And must be mine till I forget My present entity. O for the time when in my breast Their struggles will be o'er; O for the day when I shall rest, And never suffer more! "I saw a Spirit standing, Man, Where though dost stand--an hour ago; And round his feet, three rivers ran Of equal depth and equal flow-- "A Golden stream, and one like blood, And one like Sapphire, seemed to be, But where they joined their triple flood It tumbled in an inky sea. "The Spirit bent his dazzling gaze Down on that Ocean's gloomy night, Then--kindling all with sudden blaze, The glad deep sparkled wide and bright-- White as the sun; far, far more fair Than the divided sources were!" --And even for that Spirit, Seer, I've watched and sought my lifetime long; Sought Him in Heaven, Hell, Earth and Air, An endless search--and always wrong! Had I but seen his glorious eye *Once* light the clouds that 'wilder me, I ne'er had raised this coward cry To cease to think and cease to be-- I ne'er had called oblivion blest, Nor stretching eager hands to Death Implored to change for lifeless rest This sentient soul, this living breath. O let me die, that power and will Their cruel strife may close, And vanquished Good, victorious Ill Be lost in one repose. ------------ ["The Philosopher's conclusion" has been added in pencil, apparently by the author, at the head of the poem in the manuscript. --Hatfield] My question is -- what does it all MEAN? I would like to hear others' impressions of this poem. It is apparently NOT a Gondal poem and it seems to provide some insight into Emily's beliefs. Any ideas? Josh bronte conference Main Menu