the bright air;Let the inchained soul, shut up in darkness and in sighing,Whose face has never seen a smile in thirty weary years,Rise and look out; his chains are loose, his dungeon doors are open;And let his wife and children return from the oppressor's scourge.They look behind at every step & believe it is a dream,Singing: "The Sun has left his blackness & has found a fresher morning,And the fair Moon rejoices in the clear & cloudless night;For Empire is no more, and now the Lion & Wolf shall cease."

--from "America: A Prophecy" by William Blake

O stars,isn't it from you that the lover's desire for the faceof his beloved arises? Doesn't his secret insightinto her pure features come from the pure constellations?

--from "The Third Elegy" by Rainer MariaRilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell

Fine vapors escape from whatever is doing the living.The night is cold and delicate and full of angelsPounding down the living. The factories are all lit up,The chime goes unheard.We are together at last, though far apart.

--from "The Ecclesiast" by John Ashbery

Dedication

First words

Lyra and her daemon moved through the darkening hall, taking care to keep to one side, out of sight of the kitchen. (Northern lights)

Will tugged at his mother's hand and said, "Come on, come on..." (The subtle knife)

In a valley shaded with rhododendrons, close to the snow line, where a stream milky with melt-water splashed and where doves and linnets flew among the immense pines, lay a cave, half-hidden by the crag above and the stiff heavy leaves that clustered below. (The