Heart Strings of Israfel
Timid the strains I hear tonight yearning fall
Breath of the spheres keyed cadence break
Into breakers of harmony, drifting foam enthrall
The outgoing travelers to listen, swoon and brake;
This improvised stroke of excellence supreme
Has beyond doubt taken the world by surprise,
Caging the nightingales spell-bound perching dream
To fly away, unable to cup their wings and to rise.
And I stand here, pencil in hand, showing
A sketch of the universe punctuated on the sheet of time,
Gallies floating on the ocean of distance, rowing
By the oars of rhythm in unison of a perfect prime.
O God! What are these strains swelling into cascade?
Could it be that this bowed heaven above decreed a bow
With the heart-strings of Israfel, stretched from end to end,
a lute made.
Tuned for the world to hear this celestial melody now?
Or the reveling Muses who have opened their gates tonight
And out with their heavenly hosts serenading from star to star,
Drenching the earth by the sweet echo of their ravishing
delight
With Apollo singing and sweeping the strings of his
melodious guitar;
Playing measures comminglig feet welcoming the gods
to their abode
In the remote town of Baalbeck at the welkin stretch on
the road,
Leading to the well, welling forth glowing meteorites of
harmony to feed
The sun with life feeding the earth to awaken the dormant
seed.