Page:The poems of Richard Watson Gilder, Gilder, 1908.djvu/76

48 IX

And onward and out soars his song on its journey sublime,

'Mid systems that vanish or live in the lilt of his rhyme;

And through making and marring of races, and worlds, still he sings

One theme, that o'er all and through all his wild music outrings—

X

This one theme: that whate'er be the fate that has hurt us or joyed;

Whatever the face that is turned to us out of the void;

Be it cursing or blessing; or night, or the light of the sun;

Be it ill, be it good; be it life, be it death, it is ;—

XI

One thought, and one law, and one awful and infinite power;

In atom, and world; in the bursting of fruit and of flower;

The laughter of children, and roar of the lion untamed;

And the stars in their courses—one name that can never be named.

XII

But sudden a silence has fallen, the music has fled;

Tho' he leans with his hand on his harp, now indeed he is dead;

But the swan-song he sang shall for ever and ever abide

In the heart of the world, with the winds and the murmuring tide.