Observations placeholder
James Montgomery – from The Brahmin
Identifier
012537
Type of Spiritual Experience
Background
A description of the experience
James Montgomery – from The Brahmin
When wasted down to dust the creature dies
Quick, from its cell, the enfranchised spirit flies;
Fills, with fresh energy, another form
And towers an elephant, or glides a worm
The awful lion's royal shape assumes
The fox's subtlety, or peacock's plumes
Swims, like an eagle, in the eye of noon
Or wails, a screech owl, to the deaf cold moon;
Haunts the dead brakes, where serpents hiss and glare
Or hums, a glittering insect in the air
The illustrious souls of great and virtuous men
In noble animals revive again
But base and vicious spirits wind their way
In scorpions, vultures, sharks and beasts of prey
The fair, the gay, the witty and the brave
The fool, the coward, courtier, tyrant, slave,
Each in congenial animals shall find
An home and kindred for his wandering mind