Page:Leaves of Grass (1882).djvu/363

Rh What charm thy music works! thou makest pass before me,

Ladies and cavaliers long dead, barons are in their castle halls, the troubadours are singing,

Arm'd knights go forth to redress wrongs, some in quest of the holy Graal;

I see the tournament, I see the contestants incased in heavy armor seated on stately champing horses,

I hear the shouts, the sounds of blows and smiting steel;

I see the Crusaders' tumultuous armies—hark, how the cymbals clang,

Lo, where the monks walk in advance, bearing the cross on high.

Blow again trumpeter! and for thy theme,

Take now the enclosing theme of all, the solvent and the setting,

Love, that is pulse of all, the sustenance and the pang,

The heart of man and woman all for love,

No other theme but love—knitting, enclosing, all-diffusing love.

O how the immortal phantoms crowd around me!

I see the vast alembic ever working, I see and know the flames that heat the world,

The glow, the blush, the beating hearts of lovers,

So blissful happy some, and some so silent, dark, and nigh to death;

Love, that is all the earth to lovers—love, that mocks time and space,

Love, that is day and night—love, that is sun and moon and stars,

Love, that is crimson, sumptuous, sick with perfume,

No other words but words of love, no other thought but love.

Blow again trumpeter—conjure war's alarums.

Swift to thy spell a shuddering hum like distant thunder rolls,

Lo, where the arm'd men hasten—lo, mid the clouds of dust the glint of bayonets,

I see the grime-faced cannoneers, I mark the rosy flash amid the smoke, I hear the cracking of the guns;

Nor war alone—thy fearful music-song, wild player, brings every sight of fear,

The deeds of ruthless brigands, rapine, murder—I hear the cries for help!

I see ships foundering at sea, I behold on deck and below deck the terrible tableaus.