THROUGH the forest the boy wends all day long: For there he has heard such a wonderful song. He carved him a flute of the willow-tree, And tried what the tune within it might be. The tune came out of it sad and gay; But while he listen'd it pass' away. He fell asleep, and once more it sung, And over his forehead it lovingly hung. He thought he would catch it, and wildly woke; And the tune in the pale night faded and broke. "O God! my God! take me up to Thee! For the tune Thou hast made is consuming me." And the Lord God said: 'Tis a friend divine, Though never one hour shalt thou hold it thine. Yet all other music is poor and thin By the side of this which thou never shalt win!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...THE FISHER'S BOY by HENRY DAVID THOREAU TO A LOCOMOTIVE IN WINTER by WALT WHITMAN THE JEW'S GIFT; A.D. 1200 by THOMAS BAILEY ALDRICH LAURENCE BLOOMFIELD IN IRELAND: 6. SPRING by WILLIAM ALLINGHAM SONNET: 2 by RICHARD BARNFIELD VERSES TO A YOUNG FRIEND by BERNARD BARTON |