A PLEASANT music floats along the Mere, From Monks in Ely chanting service high, While-as Canute the King is rowing by: "My Oarsmen," quoth the mighty King, "draw near, "That we the sweet song of the Monks may hear!" He listens (all past conquests, and all schemes Of future, vanishing like empty dreams) Heart-touched, and haply not without a tear. The Royal Minstrel, ere the choir is still, While his free Barge skims the smooth flood along, Gives to that rapture an accordant Rhyme. O suffering Earth! be thankful: sternest clime And rudest age are subject to the thrill Of heaven-descended Piety and Song. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...LEPANTO by GILBERT KEITH CHESTERTON FRINGED GENTIAN by EMILY DICKINSON THE INDIAN EMPEROR: SONG by JOHN DRYDEN TENEBRIS by ANGELINA WELD GRIMKE THE SECRET OF THE SEA by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW TO A FRIEND WHOSE WORK HAS COME TO NOTHING by WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS THE BOUNDARIES OF APPRECIATION by FRANKLIN PIERCE ADAMS |