The Crystal Cave

MERLIN

O Merlin in your crystal cave

Deep in the diamond of the day,

Will there ever be a singer

Whose music will smooth away

The furrow drawn by Adam's finger

Across the meadow and the wave?

Or a runner who'll outrun

Man's long shadow driving on,

Burst through the gates of history,

And hang the apple on the tree?

Will your sorcery ever show

The sleeping bride shut in her bower,

The day wreathed in its mound of snow,

And Time locked in his tower?

— Edwin Muir