Classic and Contemporary Poetry
STORM-MUSIC, by HENRY VAN DYKE Poet's Biography First Line: O music has thou only heard Last Line: And harmony the rose. Alternate Author Name(s): Civis Americanus Subject(s): Music & Musicians; Storms | ||||||||
O Music has thou only heard The laughing river, the singing bird, The murmuring wind in the poplar-trees, -- Nothing but Nature melodies? Nay, thou hearest all her tones, As a Queen must hear! Sounds of wrath and fear, Mutterings, shouts and moans, Madness, tumult, and despair, -- All she has that shakes the air With voices fierce and wild! Thou art a Queen and not a dreaming child, -- Put on thy crown and let us hear thee reign Triumphant in a world of storm and strain! Echo the long-drawn sighs Of the mounting wind in the pines; And the sobs of the mounting waves that rise In the dark of the troubled deep To break on the beach in fiery lines. Echo the far-off roll of thunder, Rumbling loud And even louder, under The blue black curtain of cloud, Where the lightning serpents gleam. Echo the moaning Of the forest in its sleep Like a giant groaning In the torment of a dream. Now an interval of quiet For a moment holds the air In the breathless hush Of a silent prayer. Then the sudden rush Of the rain, and the riot Of the shrieking, tearing gale Breaks loose in the night, With a fusillade of hail! Hear the forest fight, With its tossing arms that crack and clash In the thunder's cannonade, While the lightning's forked flash Brings the old hero-trees to the ground with a crash! Hear the breakers' deepening roar, Driven like a herd of cattle In the wild stampede of battle, Trampling, trampling, trampling, to overwhelm the shore! Is it the end of all? Will the land crumble and fall? Nay, for a voice replies Out of the hidden skies, "Thus far, O sea, shalt thou go, So long, O wind, shalt thou blow: Return to your bounds and cease, And let the earth have peace!" O Music lead the way, -- The stormy night is past, Lift up our hearts to greet the day, And the joy of things that last. The dissonance and pain That mortals must endure, Are changed in thine immortal strain To something great and pure. True love will conquer strife, And strength from conflict flows, For discord is the thorn of life And harmony the rose. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STORM AT HOPTIME by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN THERE IS A SOLEMN WIND TONIGHT by KATHERINE MANSFIELD DEWEY AND DANCER by JOSEPHINE MILES MICHAEL IS AFRAID OF THE STORM by GWENDOLYN BROOKS BREACHING THE ROCK by MADELINE DEFREES THE CLOUDS ABOVE THE OCEAN by STEPHEN DOBYNS OF POLITICS, & ART by NORMAN DUBIE TREMENDOUS WIND AND RAIN by ANSELM HOLLO LITTLE BOATIE'; A SLUMBER SONG FOR THE FISHERMAN'S CHILD by HENRY VAN DYKE |
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