SWEET from his pipe the piper drew A sound that ravished all men's ears, And soared ethereal to the blue Wherein the skylark disappears. The listening throng, or grave or gay, Were hushed beneath the music's sway. When sudden, on the silver notes, A loud, discordant clamor fell; A shout arose from eager throats: "The market-bell! the market-bell!" Swift rushed the audience from the place; The piper piped to empty space. A bitter story this,—antique, And full of cynic irony. The keen-edged humor of the Greek,— Hath it no sting for thee and me? Or glad, or wise, or sad, or fain, Dear Nature wooes us not in vain! Her mystic measures round us roll, We sit in silence at her feet; And, awed and thrilled, we own control As potent as, alas! 't is fleet. For list! for hark! we know it well— Earth's loud, imperious market bell. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BABY RUNNING BAREFOOT by DAVID HERBERT LAWRENCE IN MEMORIAM A.H.H.: 51 by ALFRED TENNYSON JUNE BRACKEN AND HEATHER by ALFRED TENNYSON ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 7. TO REVEREND BENJAMIN, LORD BISHOP OF WINCHESTER by MARK AKENSIDE WHEN THE SULTAN GOES TO ISPAHAN by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH THE SUNLIT VALE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN DIRGE ON THE DEATH OF ADAMS AND JEFFERSON by JOHN GARDINER CALKINS BRAINARD |