Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, WAGNER, by HENRY JOHNSON (1855-1918)


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WAGNER, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Whom shall I purify? Whose soul is strong
Last Line: Thou bid them rise to love and hate again.
Subject(s): Composers; Wagner, Richard (1813-1883)


Whom shall I purify? Whose soul is strong
To lift the burden of a hero's grief
And dare to be reborn to give relief
To his immortal suffering in song?

Canst thou with me sustain that glory's light,
Which bathes the young god's earthly, human form?
Canst thou undaunted gird thee for the storm
To buffet death itself and sink in night?

Prove thou thy mind and heart lest impotent
Thou learn her boundless sorrow and be dumb,
So, false to her whose hate could overcome
The sister's love she bore nor would relent

Till on her ear that elemental roar
As of some helpless, caged and butchered thing
Now dies away, now rises thundering
To die again, and all is peace once more.

Too much! Not yet, great shadows of the brain,
Not yet! Be all your fireless passions mute,
Until, O music's poet, resolute
Thou bid them rise to love and hate again.





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