Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, DURING MUSIC, by JOHN BOWYER BUCHANAN NICHOLS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

DURING MUSIC, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: Play on, play on: we have no need of light
Last Line: Your smile more lovely than the first-born star.
Alternate Author Name(s): Nichols, Bowyer
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


PLAY on, play on: we have no need of light;
Play on, play on: why should we wish to see?
The notes fall softly; softly falls the night,
And builds a barrier between you and me.

Play on, play on: let nothing break the spell;
Play on, play on: tired are my eyes and brain;
The music and the darkness like them well,
And soothe their restlessness to rest again.

Darkness and music flooding all the room,
Shadow and sound, a blinding and a cry;
Nothing beside the music and the gloom—
They are all, they are life and death, they are you and I.

I think the charm can never change or cease,
I cannot tell how long I have been here,
I only know that this is perfect peace,
A mystic calm, a heaven in a tear.

I have no longing for things great and fair,
Beauty and strength and grace of word or deed,
For all sweet things my soul has ceased to care,
Infinite pity -that is all its need.

No hallowed transport of the heavenly throng,
No happy echo from the saints' abode,
The voice of many angels and their song,
The river flowing from the feet of God;

Only the vague remembrance of a dream,
Dwelling, a plaintive presence, in the mind,
Only the patient murmur of a stream,
Only a bird's cry borne upon the wind.

Lights now! the sound ebbs, the enchantment flies
Ah, it was sweet; but these are sweeter far—
The perfect innocency of your eyes,
Your smile more lovely than the first-born star.





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