University of Virginia Library

MUSIC always round me, unceasing, unbeginning—
     yet long untaught I did not hear,
But now the chorus I hear, and am elated,
A tenor, strong, ascending, with power and health,
     with glad notes of day-break I hear,
A soprano, at intervals, sailing buoyantly over the
     tops of immense waves,
A transparent base, shuddering lusciously under and
     through the universe,
The triumphant tutti—the funeral wailings, with
     sweet flutes and violins—All these I fill myself
     with;
I hear not the volumes of sound merely—I am
     moved by the exquisite meanings,
I listen to the different voices winding in and out,
     striving, contending with fiery vehemence to
     excel each other in emotion,
I do not think the performers know themselves—But
     now I think I begin to know them.