Low brooding cadences that dream and cry,
Life’s stress and passion echoing straight and clear;
Wild flights of notes that clamor and beat high
Into the storm and battle, or drop sheer;
Strange majesties of sound beyond all words
Ringing on clouds and thunderous heights sublime:
Sad detonance of golden tones and chords
That tremble with the secret of all time;
0, wrap me round; for one exulting hour
Possess my soul, and I indeed shall know
The wealth of living, the desire, the power,
The tragic sweep, the Apollonian glow;
All life shall stream before me; I shall see,
With eyes unblanched, Time and Eternity.
—Archibald Lampman.
By permission.
