Laurella and other poems by John Todhunter |
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 | Laurella and other poems |  |
I. ADAGIO.
Calm deeps of beauty all this night of June
Speak to the soul in music—mystic bars
Of peace float downward from the clear-voiced stars,
Among whom proudly walks the vestal moon:
A spheric chorus crystalline—in tune
With the fervid symphony,
Half delight, half agony,
That ever riseth up to heaven from earth and sea.
Speak to the soul in music—mystic bars
Of peace float downward from the clear-voiced stars,
Among whom proudly walks the vestal moon:
A spheric chorus crystalline—in tune
With the fervid symphony,
Half delight, half agony,
That ever riseth up to heaven from earth and sea.
Hark! to the cadenced murmur of the waves,
Where kissed by loveliest light they ebb and flow
Upon this pebbly strand, old Ocean laves,
With music weird and low;
Or rolled around their echoing caves,
Send far into the night their deep adagio.
Where kissed by loveliest light they ebb and flow
Upon this pebbly strand, old Ocean laves,
With music weird and low;
Or rolled around their echoing caves,
Send far into the night their deep adagio.
Thus Ocean, in his passionate loneliness,
Utters to wandering winds mysterious things,
Unheeded as the poet when he sings
Of dreams beyond his cunning to express.
Prometheus-like, to him the fire from heaven
Brings vulture yearnings: till he feels at length
His wrestlings with despair, to whom is given
A god's ambition with a mortal's strength.
Utters to wandering winds mysterious things,
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Of dreams beyond his cunning to express.
Prometheus-like, to him the fire from heaven
Brings vulture yearnings: till he feels at length
His wrestlings with despair, to whom is given
A god's ambition with a mortal's strength.
| Laurella and other poems | |