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64

SILENCE AND SONG OR THE NEMESIS OF JOY

I

I wish that sometimes in the sky
A storm-cloud fraught with fear and doom,
Blown from afar, would climb on high
And veil the sunshine with its gloom:
For, all too blue and all too bright,
Love's ether floods my soul with light.

II

I wish that I could sometimes hear
The world's deep undertone of pain:
With yearning heart and eager ear
I listen, but alas! in vain:
For Nature's anthems ever roll,
Strong and exultant, through my soul.
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III

I wish my Muse could sometimes sing
Where men might hearken,—hovering o'er
Their upturned eyes, with earthbound wing:
But ah! she cannot choose but soar,
On wings that spurn the earth, away
Into the very gates of day.

IV

And there she sings beyond my ken,
Lost in a throbbing mist of gold;
Unseen, unheard by mortal men;
Telling what tongue hath never told;
Singing what song hath ne'er confessed,—
The joy, the hope that swell her breast:—

V

Singing her passion, singing mine,—
My joy, my hope, my soaring faith,
My sense of harmony divine,
My love of life, my trust in death,
My dream that—could we see aright—
The whole wide world were bathed in light.

VI

Her music echoes through my heart,
Then dies unsung; for here below
Pain is the foster-nurse of art,
And sorrow makes our numbers flow.
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And so my joy, which none may share,
Changes to dumbness and despair:—

VII

Despair that dims my eyes with tears;
That clouds the brightness of the blue;
That numbs my heart with haunting fears,
With doubts if aught be real and true;
Till in my very pangs I find
The balm of kinship with my kind.

VIII

Strange paradox, that joy's excess
Should darken joy with gloom of grief!
That what has cursed my life should bless!
That pain to pain should bring relief!
That song should choke song's hidden spring,
And silence teach the heart to sing!

IX

For, haply, from her haunts on high
My Muse, whose raptures none may hear,
Scared by the clouds that throng the sky,
Will earthward drop, and circling near
Will sing to listening ears a strain
Made strong by hope, made sweet by pain.
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