It was the strangest, subtlest, sweetest sound: It seem'd above me, seem'd upon the ground, Then swiftly seem'd to eddy round and round, Till I said: "To-night the air is And all at once it seem'd I grew aware Then a peal of silver laughter, And such singing followed after As none of you, I think, have ever heard. Soft as dew-drops when they settle "What are these fairies?" to myself I said; For answer, then, as from a garden's bed, TO THE SPIRIT OF POETRY ALL things are changed save thee, - thou art the same, Only perchance more dear, as one friend grows When other friends have turn'd away. Who knows With what strange joy thou didst my life inflame Before I took upon my lips the name Which vows me to thy service? Come thou close; For to thy feet to-day my being flows, Whose eyes are deeper than deep seas or skies, Warm with thy fire this heart, these lips of mine, Lighten the darkness with thy luminous |