SONNETS: 1. BEETHOVEN by NEWMAN HOWARD

As from the nebulous elemental sea,
Wand-smitten by the Eternal Mind, Earth rose,
A foam-born Venus on whose breast repose
Rose, myrtle and amaranth, -- her canopy
Azure, her footfalls timed with Bacchic glee,
And thundering rhythm of Birth and Death, and throes
Of Races fluctuant, and the impassioned woes
Of Orpheus wailing his Eurydice;
So at Beethoven's beck there grew above
The waves of sound a wonder-world, where dwell
Old gods and nymphs in many a mazy grove;
And in their midst -- his deepest song -- a well
Where Psyche washes whiter than a dove
Ere lapped in slumber with immortal Love.

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