Alone, remote, nor witting where I went, br I found an altar builded in a dream— br A fiery place, whereof there was a gleam br So swift, so searching, and so eloquent br Of upward promise, that love’s murmur, blent br With sorrow’s warning, gave but a supreme br Unending impulse to that human stream br Whose flood was all for the flame’s fury bent. br br Alas! I said,—the world is in the wrong. br But the same quenchless fever of unrest br That thrilled the foremost of that martyred throng br Thrilled me, and I awoke … and was the same br Bewildered insect plunging for the flame br That burns, and must burn somehow for the best.