Page:Lyrics of Life, Coates, 1909.djvu/46

26 And when its music forth he drew

Earth half forgot her ancient pain,

For Marsyas himself ne'er blew

A purer, sweeter strain!

Though some there be who, self-attired

In robes of judgment they misuse,

Protest that he was not inspired

By the authentic Muse,—

Love, granting all his faults to these,

Forever holds his name apart,

Who moved not senseless stones and trees,

But the quick human heart.

The people's poet." Did he lack

Return? He served in high degree

The people, and they gave him back

Their immortality!

Time careless grows of costly wit,

Brave monuments are quickly gone,—

But that which on the heart is writ

Lives on, and on, and on!