Of all the waltzes the great Strauss wrote, Mad with melody, rhythm -- rife From the very first to the final note, Give me his "Artist's Life!" It stirs my blood to my finger ends, Thrills me and fills me with vague unrest, And all that is sweetest and saddest blends Together within my breast. It brings back that night in the dim arcade, In love's sweet morning and life's best prime, When the great brass orchestra played and played, And set our thoughts to rhyme. It brings back that Winter of mad delights, Of leaping pulses and tripping feet, And those languid moon-washed Summer nights When we heard the band in the street. It brings back rapture and glee and glow, It brings back passion and pain and strife, And so of all the waltzes I know, Give me the "Artist's Life." For it is so full of the dear old time -- So full of the dear old friends I knew. And under its rhythm, and lilt, and rhyme, I am always finding -- @3you.@1 | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO -, WITH A ROSE by SIDNEY LANIER WOMEN AND ROSES by ROBERT BROWNING TO HIS MISTRESS by ABRAHAM COWLEY ECHOES: 35. MARGARITAE SORORI by WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY SUMMER'S JOE by PATRICK JOHN MCALISTER ANDERSON ON GOOD FRIDAY, THE DAY OF OUR SAVIOUR'S PASSION by PHILIP AYRES MR. PETER'S STORY: THE BAGMAN'S DOG by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM |