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xi
PROEM.
If thou disdain the sacred Muse,
Beware lest Nature, past recall,
Indignant at that crime, refuse
Thee entrance to her audience-hall,
Beware lest sea, and sky, and all
That bears reflection of her face
Be blotted with a hueless pall
Of unillumined commonplace.
Beware lest Nature, past recall,
Indignant at that crime, refuse
Thee entrance to her audience-hall,
Beware lest sea, and sky, and all
That bears reflection of her face
Be blotted with a hueless pall
Of unillumined commonplace.
The moving heavens, in rhythmic time,
Roll, if thou watch them or refrain;
The waves upon the shore in rhyme
Beat, heedless of thy loss or gain;
Not they, but thou, hast lived in vain,
If thou art deaf and blind and dumb,
Parched in the heart of morning rain,
And on the flaming altar numb.
Roll, if thou watch them or refrain;
The waves upon the shore in rhyme
Beat, heedless of thy loss or gain;
xii
If thou art deaf and blind and dumb,
Parched in the heart of morning rain,
And on the flaming altar numb.
Ah! desolate hour when that shall be,
When dew and sunlight, rain and wind,
Shall seem but trivial things to thee,
Unloved, unheeded, undivined;
Nay, rather let that morning find
Thy molten soul exhaled and gone,
Than in a living death resigned
So darkly still to labour on.
When dew and sunlight, rain and wind,
Shall seem but trivial things to thee,
Unloved, unheeded, undivined;
Nay, rather let that morning find
Thy molten soul exhaled and gone,
Than in a living death resigned
So darkly still to labour on.
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