Classic Poem

Make her an image of the pendent world,
A living mirror of the living whole;
Be Time and Space within her heart up-curled,
Then set Eternity within her soul.

Break, break, on every shore, ye homeless waves,
Lifted by the moon and driven by the wind,
White upon the skyline or dark in ocean caves,
Or playing on the sands when sun and breeze are kind.

Let there rise mountains of the fire and snow,
Majestic rivers fed by lonely rills.
Mysterious forests that man may never know,
Valleys where the moon walks naked on the hills.

Wide fields be there, with poppies in the wheat,
And, for delight, a little garden plot,
Lilies and roses asleep within the heat,
White moons of daisies, and pansies dark for thought.

High over all, within the soul's pure sky,
Sun, moon, and stars, eternal and divine,
In the dark of midnight, or when the noon is high,
Rising for a wonder, setting for a sign.

Let all sweet sounds make music in her blood,
The pipes of Pan, and every wild bird's tune.
All voices of the sea and mountain flood,
And every wind that roves 'neath sun and moon.

Make her, yea, an image of the pendent world,
A living mirror of the living whole;
Be Time and Space within her heart up-curled,
Then set Eternity within her soul!