 | Sounds and Sweet Airs |  |
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II. Music and Moonlight.
Shut out the world! No sense of its mad care,
Its din and sordid strife mar night's rich gloom,
Or with a memory trouble the delicate air
Of this one room, your own—of this one room
Your heart has made its treasury of things rare.
Its din and sordid strife mar night's rich gloom,
Or with a memory trouble the delicate air
Of this one room, your own—of this one room
Your heart has made its treasury of things rare.
There sigh your gathered roses, red and white,
And by yon casement, in one symphony
Of odours breathed on the warm air of night,
Verbena, and mignonette, and rosemary,
And myrtle prelude some delicious rite.
And by yon casement, in one symphony
Of odours breathed on the warm air of night,
Verbena, and mignonette, and rosemary,
And myrtle prelude some delicious rite.
No need for candles when voluptuous June
Makes night one long twilight of stars and clouds,
And o'er your garden trees the royal moon
Tames with her splendour her bright courtier crowds,
And all things tremble as to a nocturne's tune.
Makes night one long twilight of stars and clouds,
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Tames with her splendour her bright courtier crowds,
And all things tremble as to a nocturne's tune.
Ah! give their passion utterance, key by key!
To your proud roses oft you have played alone;
To-night for no proud roses, but for me
You shall set music on her silver throne,
Though every rose should fade for jealousy.
To your proud roses oft you have played alone;
To-night for no proud roses, but for me
You shall set music on her silver throne,
Though every rose should fade for jealousy.
They shall not fade; but from old Omar's tomb
Faintly their Persian sisters' breath divine
Shall, as you play, float to me through the gloom,
And East and West, as in one mystic wine,
Mingle their spirits in music and perfume.
Faintly their Persian sisters' breath divine
Shall, as you play, float to me through the gloom,
And East and West, as in one mystic wine,
Mingle their spirits in music and perfume.
| Sounds and Sweet Airs | |