Classic Poem

Because some day, before your straining eyes,
The stars will fade — for human eyes are frail —
Because some day your ear will naught avail
To catch the myriad harmonies that rise
From sea and stream and forest to the skies;
Think not for that the lamps of heaven will pale,
Or ocean's deep unfaltering voices fail,
Or birds forget their rapturous melodies.

Oh, feed your eyes on heaven's eternal lights,
And lean your ear to earth's melodious voice;
Hear while you can, and while you can rejoice;
And, frail and mean and mortal though you be,
The deathless things in which your heart delights
Will touch you with their own eternity.