Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

NIGHT DANCE by THOMAS MOORE

First Line: STRIKE THE GAY HARP! SEE, THE MOON IS ON HIGH
STRIKE the gay harp! see the moon is on high,
And, as true to her beam as the tides of the ocean,
Young hearts, when they feel the soft light of her eye ,
Obey the mute call and heave into motion.
Then, sound notes the gayest, the lightest,
That ever took wing, when heaven looked brightest!
Again! Again!
Oh! could such heart- stirring music be heard
In that City of Statues described by romancers,
So wakening its spell, even stone would be stirred,
And statues themselves all start into dancers!
Why then delay, with such sounds in our ears,
And the flower of Beauty's own garden before us,
While stars overhead leave the song of their spheres,
And listening to ours, hang wondering o'er us?
Again, that strain! sounding to hear it thus -
Might set even Death's cold pulses bounding
Again! Again!
Oh, what delight when the youthful and gay,
Each with eye like a sunbeam and foot like a feather,
Thus dance, like the Hours to the music of May,
And mingle sweet song and sunshine together!




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