Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, 1805-1875, by EDMUND WILLIAM GOSSE


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HANS CHRISTIAN ANDERSEN, 1805-1875, by                     Poet's Biography
First Line: A being cleaves the moonlit air
Last Line: Grow luminous!
Subject(s): Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875); Writing & Writers


A BEING cleaves the moonlit air,
With eyes of dew and plumes of fire,
New-born, immortal, strong and fair;
Glance ere he goes!
His feet are shrouded like the dead,
But in his face a wild desire
Breaks like the dawn that flushes red,
And like a rose.
The stars shine out above his path,
And music wakes through all the skies;
What mortal such a triumph hath,
By death set free?
What earthly hands and heart are pure
As this man's, whose unshrinking eyes
Gaze onward through the deep obscure,
Nor quail to see?
Ah! this was he who drank the fount
Of wisdom set in speechless things,
Who, patient, watched the day-star mount,
While others slept.
Ah! this was he whose loving soul
Found heart-beats under trembling wings,
And heard divinest music roll
Where wild springs leapt.
For poor dumb lips had song for him
And children's dreamings ran in tune,
And strange old heroes, weird and dim,
Walked by his side.
The very shadows loved him well
And danced and flickered in the moon,
And left him wondrous tales to tell
Men far and wide.
And now no more he smiling walks
Through greenwood alleys full of sun,
And, as he wanders, turns and talks,
Though none be there;
The children watch in vain the place
Where they were wont when day was done
To see their poet's sweet worn face,
And faded hair.
Yet dream not such a spirit dies,
Though all its earthly shrine decay!
Transfigured under clearer skies,
He sings anew;
The frail soul-covering, racked with pain,
And scored with vigil, fades away,
The soul set free and young again
Glides upward through.
Weep not, but watch the moonlit air!
Perchance a glory like a star
May leave what hangs about him there
And flash on us! . . .
Behold! the void is full of light,
The beams pierce heaven from bar to bar
And all the hollows of the night
Grow luminous!




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