Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, MUSIC IN AN AVENUE, by CARA ELIZABETH HANSCOM WHITON STONE


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

MUSIC IN AN AVENUE, by                    
First Line: I knew the minstrel not, and yet I knew
Last Line: That all the coming centuries shall know.
Subject(s): Music & Musicians


I

I knew the Minstrel not, and yet I knew
He played on pipes of Pan as he went by,
And that a passion boundless as the sky
Ran like a golden flame, his measures through.
I thought, this Minstrel will the gods pursue
Till they await his coming, nor deny
That their melodious ways together lie,
The while he dreams some deathless note to woo!
On, past me, like a nightingale he swept,
While the June air a-throb with music swayed,
On, through the avenue where the stone hounds slept;
And as the western glory on them strayed,
I think they roused, but a fierce silence kept,
Quelled by the magic of the strains he played.

II

They who play pipes of Pan are never spent,
And I shall hear from some resplendent height
That he will reach in his imperial flight,
Rapture on rapture by the Minstrel sent;
Elect to race with gods, behold he went
Flying upon his way toward Love and Light,
That are their fairest goals, and tuned to sight
Came face to face with the Omnipotent.
Flute on, O Minstrel in thy wondrous June!
And all the lilies, listening thee, will blow,
And 'cross more silver seas will sail the moon,
Till with song-bladed wings thy soul shall go
And out of some near Eden snatch a tune,
That all the coming centuries shall know.





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