Classic Poem

The syrinx, the flute and the horn,
The trumpet, the flageolet,
The mellow clarionet
And the sylvan hautboy were born
Of the Wind in the ancient days,
And the tortoise gave his shell
That the tight strings chorded well
Might thrum to Homeric lays.

The voluptuous nightingale
Taught heart-thrilling melody
As he trilled by the violet sea
In the rose-scented Asian vale.
And the rain-bird's rhythmic tap
On the hollow olive-tree stump
Gave birth to the drum with its thump
Like the rumbling thunder-clap.

And out of these Nature-sounds
In the slow evolution of Time
Grew Harmony's complicate chime
And its freedom in law-defined bounds.
The orchestra grouped on the stage
With its brass and wood-wind and strings,
Its precision which discipline brings,
Traces back to a primitive age.