Classic Poem

Dawn—and the vision glorious at last,
I feel the sweep of life in every part,
I hear the planets rushing through the vast,
The mountain-rivers thunder in my heart.
The earth is turned to leaping fire and flood,
The skies, like waving banners, are unfurled,
The winds, the seas, are pounding in my blood—
I am the wakened pulse of all the world.

She is mine—I am ocean and thunder,
I am flame in a glory of fire,
I am lifted with new-revealed wonder,
With gladness too great to desire.
Oh fire and flood, let me sweep her
With love that no man can divine—
Oh stars, let me hold her and keep her,
She is mine—she is mine.

Dusk—and the vision glorious still glows,
But softer, gentler on the world it lies;
I hear the hours whisper, and the rose
Murmurs a breath of perfumed lullabies.
I hear the crickets and the early stars
Singing their songs amid the twilight-stir,
I see the rudest things without their scars,
And I have felt the world—because of her.
She is mine—I am calmness and quiet,
I am faith, I am peace in the night,
I am hallowed with godhood, and by it
We shall win to the worthiest height.
Oh dusk, make me nobler and deeper
With love that no man can divine—
Oh stars, let me hold her and keep her,
She is mine—she is mine!