ugh the grand space. My song had ceased,
scared at its own influences. But I saw in the hand of one of the
statues close by me, a harp whose chords yet quivered. I remembered
that as she bounded past me, her harp had brushed against my arm; so
the spell of the marble had not infolded it. I sprang to her, and with a
gesture of entreaty, laid my hand on the harp. The marble hand, probably
from its contact with the uncharmed harp, had strength enough to relax
its hold, and yield the harp to me. No other motion indicated life.
Instinctively I struck the chords and sang. And not to break upon the
record of my song, I mention here, that as I sang the first four lines,
the loveliest feet became clear upon the black pedestal; and ever as I
sang, it was as if a veil were being lifted up from before the form, but
an invisible veil, so that the statue appeared to grow before me, not
so much by evolution, as by infinitesimal degrees of added height. And,
while I sang, I did not feel that I stood by a statue, as indeed it
appeared to be, but that a real woman-soul was revealing itself by
successive stages of imbodiment, and consequent manifestatlon and
expression.

Feet of beauty, firmly planting
Arches white on rosy heel!
Whence the life-spring, throbbing, panting,
Pulses upward to reveal!
Fairest things know least despising;
Foot and earth meet tenderly:
'Tis the woman, resting, rising
Upward to sublimity,
Rise the limbs, sedately sloping,
Strong and gentle, full and free;
Soft and slow, like certain hoping,
Drawing nigh the broad firm knee.
Up to speech! As up to roses
Pants the life from leaf to flower,
So each blending change discloses,
Nearer still, expression's power.

Lo! fair sweeps, white surges, twining
Up and outward fearlessly!
Temple columns, close combining,
Lift a holy mystery.
Heart of mine! what strange surprises
Mount aloft on such a stair!
Some great vision upward rises,
Curving, bending, floating fair.

Bands and sweeps, and hill and hollow
Lead my fascinated eye;
Some apocalypse will follow,
Some new world of deity.
Zoned unseen, and outward swelling,
With new thoughts and w