A Vision

I lost the love of heaven above, I spurned the lust of earth below, I felt the sweets of fancied love And hell itself my only foe. I lost earth's joys but felt the glow Of heaven's flame abound in me Till loveliness and I did grow The bard of immortality. I loved but woman fell away I hid me from her faded fame, I snatched the sun's eternal ray And wrote till earth was but a name In every language upon earth, On every shore, o'er every sea, I give my name immortal birth And kept my spirit with the free.