Classic Poem

Apollo! Master of the deep-toned lyre
Still burns your altar-fire
Above the worshippers; still silver-browed
They breathe the flame:
He of the immortal name
Who faced the dread of utter sleep unbowed
He that aroused the soul to swift alarms
And the high thrill of arms
And the fair spirit in whose lyric voice
The winds and birds are mingled—“Ah rejoice
For all the earth is singing to the sky—”
In ecstasy
They seek to follow where your sandals trod—
Yet vain
The struggle and the pain
They are but mortal men and you—a god.

Ere morning touched the tapers of the world
You were abroad. The orient day
Broke in a thousand splendours on your way:
And where the raving breakers swirled
Across the bar, you heard the ocean speak
To God in the bushed paleness of the dawn.
Or in the moonlight, watched the laughing form
Dance with the motley fairies; or would seek
Some lovely spot, and pierce beyond the stars
With sure unhampered vision that saw
The dread avengers of the changeless Saul
And splendid Satan beating at the bars.
To them that dream, you stand
Above the altar; rapt unseeing eyes
Rending the awful veil of Paradise
Impassioned hand
Sweeping the trembling strings: far hurled
The music sweeps across the sky
In one majestic symphony
The mingled tears and laughter of the world.