Slowly I circle the dim, dizzy stair, Wrapt in my cloak's gray fold, Holding my heart lest it throb to the air Its radiant secret, for though I be old, Though I totter and rock like a ship in the wind, And the sunbeams come unto me broken and blind, Yet my spirit drinks youth from the treasure we hold, Richer than gold. Princes below me, lips wet from the wine, Hush at my organ's swell; Ladies applaud me with clappings as fine As showers that splash in a musical well. But their ears only hear mighty melodies ringing, And their souls never know 'tis my angel there singing, That the grand organ-angel awakes in his cell Under my spell. There in the midst of the wandering pipes, Far from the gleaming keys, And the organ front with its gilded stripes, My glorious angel lies sleeping at ease. And the hand of a stranger may beat at his gate, And the ear of a stranger may listen and wait, But he only cries in his pain for these, Witless to please. Angel, my angel, the old man's hand Knoweth thy silver way. I loose thy lips from their silence band And over thy heart-strings my fingers play, While the song peals forth from thy mellow throat, And my spirit climbs on the climbing note, Till I mingle thy tone with the tones away Over the day. So I look up as I follow the tone, Up with my dim old eyes, And I wonder if organs have angels alone, Or if, as my fancy might almost surmise, Each man in his heart folds an angel with wings, An angel that slumbers, but wakens and sings When thrilled by the touch that is sympathy-wise, Bidding it rise. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...AMERICA: SONNET 2 by SYDNEY THOMPSON DOBELL ODE TO A NIGHTINGALE by JOHN KEATS THE SOUND OF THE SEA; SONNET by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW LOVE SONGS TO JOANNES by MINA LOY ECCE IN DESERTO by HENRY AUGUSTIN BEERS KING PHILIP'S MEN by AUDREY ALEXANDRA BROWN KING VICTOR EMANUEL ENTERS FLORENCE, APRIL, 1860 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING |