 | Later Poems |  |
55
Ad Poetam
O poet of the golden mouth, on you
God's benison for music sweet and true.
God's benison for music sweet and true.
Your web of song is full divinely wove;
A warp that's joy across a woof that's love.
A warp that's joy across a woof that's love.
If rudest thorns have sharply pierced your hand,
Blest, with the Rose upon your heart, you stand.
Blest, with the Rose upon your heart, you stand.
If you have known the awe and gloom of night,
Your element was still the eternal Light.
Your element was still the eternal Light.
If you have tasted bitter woe and teen,
More wholesome-sweet for that your song hath been.
More wholesome-sweet for that your song hath been.
And to the music dropping from your tongue
No taste of morbid gall hath ever clung.
No taste of morbid gall hath ever clung.
No pestilential sloughs of decadence
Have ever clogged your spirit, fouled your sense.
Have ever clogged your spirit, fouled your sense.
In vital grace and virile sanity,
Of earth and heaven, O poet, you are free.
Of earth and heaven, O poet, you are free.
Sing on, sing on the strain he knoweth best
Who hath the heavens' blue road, the earth's brown nest.
Who hath the heavens' blue road, the earth's brown nest.
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