THO' the Earth with age seems whitened, And her tresses hoary and old No longer are flushed and brightened By glintings of brown or gold, A voice from the Syrian highlands, O'er waters that flash and stir, By the belts of their tropic islands, Still singeth of joy to her! A song which the centuries hallow! Though softer than April rain That soweth on field and fallow, A spell that shall rise in grain -- Yet deep as the sea-strain chanted On the fluctuant ocean-lyre, By the magical west-wind haunted, With the pulse of his soul on fire! A promise to lift the lowly, -- To weed the soul of its tares, And change into harmonies holy The discord of fierce despairs: A glory of high Evangels, Of rhythmical storms and calms; All hail to the voices of angels, Heard over the starlit palms! A hymn of hope to the ages, The music of deathless trust, No frenzy of mortal rages Can darken with doubt or dust; A rapture of high evangels, But centred in sacred calms! Ah! still the chorus of angels Thrills over the Bethlehem palms! Still heralds the day-spring tender, That never can melt or close, Till the noon of its deepening splendor Out-blooms, like a mystic rose, Whose petals are rays supernal Of love that hath all sufficed, -- And whose heart is the grace eternal, Of the fathomless peace of Christ! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...YOU ARE FIRE EATERS by MARIANNE MOORE ON THE PROSPECT OF PLANTING ARTS AND LEARNING IN AMERICA by GEORGE BERKELEY SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE: 39 by ELIZABETH BARRETT BROWNING THE NIGHTINGALE; A CONVERSATION POEM by SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE MARTHY VIRGINIA'S HAND [SEPTEMBER 17, 1862] by GEORGE PARSONS LATHROP CREPUSCULE DU MATIN; SONNET by AMY LOWELL THE QUAKER WIDOW by BAYARD TAYLOR TO A LADY, WITH SOME PAINTED FLOWERS by ANNA LETITIA BARBAULD SONNETS OF MANHOOD: 21. THE WORLD'S MARRIAGE MORN by GEORGE BARLOW (1847-1913) |