The Silken Tassel/Ode to Poesy
Ode to Poesy
My eyes are glistening with celestial light:
My heart is throbbing with pulsations warm,
Like ocean-waves that leap before a storm:
My frame is stirring at the wizard might
Of new unveilèd Beauty: I do hear
The dewy footsteps now approaching near
As of some happy Power,
O’ershadowing my soul in mystery:
I feel that thou hast come, fair Poesy!
And woven a vision on my brow this hour,
Like sudden moonlight on a midnight sea!
My heart is throbbing with pulsations warm,
Like ocean-waves that leap before a storm:
My frame is stirring at the wizard might
Of new unveilèd Beauty: I do hear
The dewy footsteps now approaching near
As of some happy Power,
O’ershadowing my soul in mystery:
I feel that thou hast come, fair Poesy!
And woven a vision on my brow this hour,
Like sudden moonlight on a midnight sea!
Come, lovely Goddess! from thy heavenly home,
Where thou art ever weaving thy sweet spell
Around the heads that dream with thee to dwell
Beside a sea of joy, upon whose foam
Thy rainbow locks are streaming; where thy breath
Doth ever blow to heal the stings of Death
That fears thy magic name:
Where reigns thy beauty all the gods among
For ever smiling and for ever sung:
Where Wisdom, Virtue, Truth, Love, Hope and Fame
Are but the flowers to thy tresses strung.
Where thou art ever weaving thy sweet spell
Around the heads that dream with thee to dwell
Beside a sea of joy, upon whose foam
Thy rainbow locks are streaming; where thy breath
Doth ever blow to heal the stings of Death
That fears thy magic name:
Where reigns thy beauty all the gods among
For ever smiling and for ever sung:
Where Wisdom, Virtue, Truth, Love, Hope and Fame
Are but the flowers to thy tresses strung.
Let dry Philosophy sow Hows and Whys
And reap a harvest of the grainless chaff;
Let Science hold her ever-changing staff
And labour all her life with doubtful eyes
To cut and link the Truth that e’er exists;
Their mind is smoky like the shadow’d mists
That flow and melt away;
Thine is the kingdom of a brighter world,
Where Truth has all her beauty’s veils unfurl’d,
Where Love is Truth and Law that never stray,
And rules the heart of Man by thy voice thirl’d.
And reap a harvest of the grainless chaff;
Let Science hold her ever-changing staff
And labour all her life with doubtful eyes
To cut and link the Truth that e’er exists;
Their mind is smoky like the shadow’d mists
That flow and melt away;
Thine is the kingdom of a brighter world,
Where Truth has all her beauty’s veils unfurl’d,
Where Love is Truth and Law that never stray,
And rules the heart of Man by thy voice thirl’d.
Come, gentle Spirit! take my heart in thine:
Come, I have known thee and have loved thee long:
Yes, I have known and felt thy presence strong
Within my mind that drinks thy dimpling wine,
Dissolving in thy dawn its moonlight dreams;
Oh, I remember when thy golden beams
Within my boyish heart
Plough’d furrows deep thy deathless love to sow;
More than in love, thence, in their meteor-glow,
I’ve toil’d to reap the secret of thine Art
That waters here my youthful Hope to grow.
Come, I have known thee and have loved thee long:
Yes, I have known and felt thy presence strong
Within my mind that drinks thy dimpling wine,
Dissolving in thy dawn its moonlight dreams;
Oh, I remember when thy golden beams
Within my boyish heart
Plough’d furrows deep thy deathless love to sow;
More than in love, thence, in their meteor-glow,
I’ve toil’d to reap the secret of thine Art
That waters here my youthful Hope to grow.
And whither shalt thou carry me beyond
This thorny earth that quakes beneath her sins:
Far where the mellow Moonlight sings and spins
Her silken threads to catch the meteors fond;
Or in the golden halls of Morn that brings
Proud Sunrise flying on his mighty wings;
Or in the windless calm
Of flowery Eve, that kisses soft to sleep
Each lotus in its watery home, where deep
It dreams within the shade of bordering palm,
Through which the pilot-star of eve doth peep?
This thorny earth that quakes beneath her sins:
Far where the mellow Moonlight sings and spins
Her silken threads to catch the meteors fond;
Or in the golden halls of Morn that brings
Proud Sunrise flying on his mighty wings;
Or in the windless calm
Of flowery Eve, that kisses soft to sleep
Each lotus in its watery home, where deep
It dreams within the shade of bordering palm,
Through which the pilot-star of eve doth peep?
For many a day and night I’ve worshipp’d thee
And ever shall remain thy bondman true;
With thee I’ve sail’d through all the living blue
And loved to lie awhile among the free
And ever-blossoming clouds, the stars, the moon,
And other aery beings: till I, too, soon
Have felt myself a star,
A moon, a cloud, free-breathing in the air
Of liquid sweetness in thy shadowing care,
Leaving the world behind me far—too far—
To slip away into thy regions rare.
And ever shall remain thy bondman true;
With thee I’ve sail’d through all the living blue
And loved to lie awhile among the free
And ever-blossoming clouds, the stars, the moon,
And other aery beings: till I, too, soon
Have felt myself a star,
A moon, a cloud, free-breathing in the air
Of liquid sweetness in thy shadowing care,
Leaving the world behind me far—too far—
To slip away into thy regions rare.
Thy regions rare!—Ah, yes, that land divine!
Where, by the twilight lake embroider’d thick
With lotus-stars o’er fan-leaves twinkling quick,
’Mid lawny hills and flowery woods that shine
In vernal splendour, on a golden plain
Fed with soft sunlight and the dewy rain,
I sit in joy untold,
And sip and sip and sip the nectar dear
From thy rich cup of light and love sincere,
O’erbrimming with thy smiles that e’er unfold
A brighter life beyond this raging sphere!
Where, by the twilight lake embroider’d thick
With lotus-stars o’er fan-leaves twinkling quick,
’Mid lawny hills and flowery woods that shine
In vernal splendour, on a golden plain
Fed with soft sunlight and the dewy rain,
I sit in joy untold,
And sip and sip and sip the nectar dear
From thy rich cup of light and love sincere,
O’erbrimming with thy smiles that e’er unfold
A brighter life beyond this raging sphere!
And there, within thy universe sublime,
I sit and sing my soul for one short hour,
And lose myself within the silver shower
Of glowing visions swimming in that clime,
And dream the sweetest dream man ever dreams:
But O! the cup falls from my hand, and streams
The nectar on the ground!—
I rise and seek and search for thee in vain:
No lake, no hills, no woods, no golden plain;
This is my chair, and this my world around!—
Why leave me, Poesy? Come, come again!
I sit and sing my soul for one short hour,
And lose myself within the silver shower
Of glowing visions swimming in that clime,
And dream the sweetest dream man ever dreams:
But O! the cup falls from my hand, and streams
The nectar on the ground!—
I rise and seek and search for thee in vain:
No lake, no hills, no woods, no golden plain;
This is my chair, and this my world around!—
Why leave me, Poesy? Come, come again!