Читать книгу The Complete Poetical Works of James Russell Lowell - James Russell Lowell - Страница 26

But now the Poet is an empty rhymer

Who lies with idle elbow on the grass,

And fits his singing, like a cunning timer,

To all men's prides and fancies as they pass. 60

Not his the song, which, in its metre holy,

Chimes with the music of the eternal stars,

Humbling the tyrant, lifting up the lowly,

And sending sun through the soul's prison-bars.

Maker no more—oh no! unmaker rather,

For he unmakes who doth not all put forth

The power given freely by our loving Father

To show the body's dross, the spirit's worth.

Awake! great spirit of the ages olden!

Shiver the mists that hide thy starry lyre, 70

And let man's soul be yet again beholden

To thee for wings to soar to her desire.

Oh, prophesy no more to-morrow's splendor,

Be no more shamefaced to speak out for Truth,

Lay on her altar all the gushings tender,

The hope, the fire, the loving faith of youth!

Oh, prophesy no more the Maker's coming,

Say not his onward footsteps thou canst hear

In the dim void, like to the awful humming

Of the great wings of some new-lighted sphere! 80

Oh, prophesy no more, but be the Poet!

This longing was but granted unto thee

That, when all beauty thou couldst feel and know it,

That beauty in its highest thou shouldst be.

O thou who moanest tost with sealike longings,

Who dimly hearest voices call on thee,

Whose soul is overfilled with mighty throngings

Of love, and fear, and glorious agony.

Thou of the toil-strung hands and iron sinews

And soul by Mother Earth with freedom fed, 90

In whom the hero-spirit yet continues,

The old free nature is not chained or dead,

Arouse! let thy soul break in music-thunder,

Let loose the ocean that is in thee pent,

Pour forth thy hope, thy fear, thy love, thy wonder,

And tell the age what all its signs have meant.

Where'er thy wildered crowd of brethren jostles,

Where'er there lingers but a shadow of wrong,

There still is need of martyrs and apostles,

There still are texts for never-dying song: 100

From age to age man's still aspiring spirit

Finds wider scope and sees with clearer eyes,

And thou in larger measure dost inherit

What made thy great forerunners free and wise.

Sit thou enthronèd where the Poet's mountain

Above the thunder lifts its silent peak,

And roll thy songs down like a gathering fountain,

They all may drink and find the rest they seek.

Sing! there shall silence grow in earth and heaven,

A silence of deep awe and wondering; 110

For, listening gladly, bend the angels, even,

To hear a mortal like an angel sing.