Ultimate

This poem reveals a profound exploration of spirituality, the human condition, and the relationship between man and the divine. The opening imagery of a haloed host weeping around an empty throne confronts themes of desolation and divine absence, accentuated through the jarring portrait of "aureoles dark and angels dead". This can be interpreted as a critique or questioning of religious faith, or alternatively, as a commentary on mankind's feelings of loneliness and solitude in the universe.

The second half of the poem shifts focus to the human being, who declares his existence with "I am". This phrase repeated twice commands a sense of self-affirmation, an existential claim, and at the same time echoes the Biblical name for God, merging the human and the divine. Yet it is followed by the sobering line "and is again a clod", suggesting the transience and insignificance of human life. The final lines depict nature's reaction to man's declaration, the sparrow starts, the grasses stir, implying a unity of life, or that man's existence is validated and recognized by nature itself. Overall, the poem operates in a realm of existentialism and spirituality, with a contemplative tone that provokes reflections on life, divinity, and our place in the universe.