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Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE PIANO-ORGAN by AMY LEVY

First Line: MY STUDENT LAMP IS LIGHTED
Last Line: THE TUNE TWIRLS ON AND ON.
Subject(s): ORGANS (MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS);

MY student-lamp is lighted,
The books and papers are spread ;
A sound comes floating upwards,
Chasing the thoughts from my head.

I open the garret window,
Let the music in and the moon ;
See the woman grin for coppers,
While the man grinds out the tune.

Grind me a dirge or a requiem,
Or a funeral-march sad and slow,
But not, O not, that waltz tune
I heard so long ago.

I stand upright by the window,
The moonlight streams in wan : --
O God ! with its changeless rise and fall
The tune twirls on and on.







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