— St. 11. when Music’s son, etc.: a fling at Goethe.
12.
No! This other, on returning
Homeward, prize in hand,
Satisfied his bosom’s yearning:
(Sir, I hope you understand!)
—Said “Some record there must be
Of this cricket’s help to me!”
13.
So, he made himself a statue:
Marble stood, life-size;
On the lyre, he pointed at you,
Perched his partner in the prize;
Never more apart you found
Her, he throned, from him, she crowned.
14.
That’s the tale: its application?
Somebody I know
Hopes one day for reputation
Through his poetry that’s—Oh,
All so learned and so wise
And deserving of a prize!
15.
If he gains one, will some ticket,
When his statue’s built,
Tell the gazer “‘Twas a cricket
Helped my crippled lyre, whose lilt
Sweet and low, when strength usurped
Softness’ place i’ the scale, she chirped?
16.
“For as victory was nighest,
While I sang and played,—
With my lyre at lowest, highest,
Right alike,—one string that made
‘Love’ sound soft was snapt in twain,
Never to be heard again,—
17.
“Had not a kind cricket fluttered,
Perched upon the place
Vacant left, and duly uttered
‘Love, Love, Love’, whene’er the bass
Asked the treble to atone
For its somewhat sombre drone.”
18.
But you don’t know music! Wherefore
Keep on casting pearls
To a—poet? All I care for
Is—to tell him that a girl’s
“Love” comes aptly in when gruff
Grows his singing. (There, enough!)