A final belch of fire like blood,
Overbroke all heaven in one flood
Of doom. Then fire was sky, and sky
Fire, and both, one brief ecstasy,
Then ashes. But I heard no noise
(Whatever was) because a voice
Beside me spoke thus, “Life is done,
“Time ends, Eternity’s begun,
“And thou art judged for evermore.”
As in “Christmas-Eve,” the question rises of a Presence in the awful
scene.