THE Poet in his vigil hears Time flowing through the night, -- A mighty stream, absorbing tears, And bearing down delight: There resting on his bank of thought He listens, till his soul The Voices of the waves has caught, -- The meaning of their roll. First, wild and wildering as the strife Of earthly winds and seas, Resounds the long historic life Of warring dynasties: -- Uncertain right and certain wrong In onward conflict driven, The threats and tramplings of the strong Beneath a brazen heaven. The cavernous unsounded East Outpours an evil tide, Drowning the hymn of patriarch priest, The chant of shepherd bride: How can we catch the angel-word, How mark the prophet-sound, 'Mid thunders like Niagara's heard An hundred miles around? From two small springs that rise and blend, And leave their Latin home, The waters East and West extend, -- The ocean-power of Rome: Voices of Victories ever-won, Of Pride that will not stay, Billows that burst and perish on The shores they wear away. Till, in a race of fierce delight Tumultuous battle forth, The snows amassed on many a height, The cataracts of the North: What can we hear beside the roar, What see beneath the foam, What but the wrecks that strew the shore, And cries of falling Rome? Nor, when a purer Faith had traced Safe channels for the tide, Did streams with Eden-lilies graced In Eden-sweetness glide; While the deluded gaze admires The smooth and shining flow, Vile interests and insane desires Gurgle and rage below. If History has no other sounds, Why should we listen more? Spirit! despise terrestrial bounds, And seek a happier shore; Yet pause! for on thine inner ear A mystic music grows, -- And mortal man shall never hear That diapason's close. Nature awakes! a rapturous tone, Still different, still the same, -- Eternal effluence from the throne Of Him without a name; A symphony of worlds begun, Ere sin the glory mars, The cymbals of the new-born sun, The trumpets of the stars. Then Beauty all her subtlest chords Dissolves and knits again, And Law composes jarring words In one harmonious chain: And Loyalty's enchanting notes Outswelling fade away, While Knowledge, from ten thousand throats, Proclaims a graver sway. -- Well, if, by senses unbefooled, Attentive souls may scan These great Ideas that have ruled The total mind of man; Yet is there music deeper still, Of fine and holy woof, Comfort and joy to all that will Keep ruder noise aloof. A music simple as the sky, Monotonous as the sea, Recurrent as the flowers that die And rise again in glee: A melody that childhood sings Without a thought of art, Drawn from a few familiar strings, The fibres of the Heart. Through tent and cot and proud saloon This audible delight Of nightingales that love the noon, Of larks that court the night, -- We feel it all, -- the hopes and fears That language faintly tells, The spreading smiles, -- the passing tears, -- The meetings and farewells. These harmonies that all can share, When chronicled by one, Enclose us like the living air, Unending, unbegun; -- Poet! esteem thy noble part, Still listen, still record, Sacred Historian of the heart, And moral nature's Lord! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE MOTHER'S HOPE by SAMUEL LAMAN BLANCHARD TO HIS MISTRESS OBJECTING TO HIM NEITHER TOYING OR TALKING by ROBERT HERRICK A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 62 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN THE ROPEWALK by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE BLACK VULTURE by GEORGE STERLING SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 29. CHRIST AND ENGLAND by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |