THE MUSIC OF LIFE.
Music round the world is ringing,
Sweeter ne’er is heard by man;
Music angel hosts were singing,
Ere the morning stars began;
Sweeter ’tis than dreams of music,
Music one awakes to hear
Trailing on a train of echoes
O’er a mild and moonlit meer;
More it moves than martial marches,
More than gleams of long-lost hope,
More than suns to glory lifting
Dew they draw from plain and slope;
Music ’tis that thrills us only
In the art that hearts control,
When the breath of ardor holy
Softly stirs a sighing soul.
Music in the breast is bringing
Every soul its own reward,
Like the lute’s that tunes to singing
Only tones that with it chord.
Let the heart devoid of pleasure
Throb as throbs its rhythmic beat,
Soon will joys that none can measure
Round it and within it meet,—
Joys without in those about it,
Joys within, that pulsing come,
Firm of tread as warriors marching
Where before them rolls the drum;
Known by inward senses only,
Only known like bliss above,
Life of life and order holy,
Sounds the music soft of love.