Classic Poem

A small blue flower with yellow eye
Hath mightier spell to move my soul
Than even the mightiest notes which roll
From man's most perfect minstrelsy.
A flash, a momentary gleam,
A glimpse of some celestial dream,
And tears alone are left to me.

Filled with a longing vague and dim,
I hold the flower in every light;
To purge my soul's redarkened sight
I grope till all my senses swim.
In vain; I feel the ecstacy
Only when suddenly I see
This pale star with the sapphire rim.

Nor hath the blossom such strange power
Because it saith " Forget me not "
For some heart-holden, distant spot,
Or silent tongue, or buried hour.
Methinks immortal memories
Of some past scene of Paradise
Speak to my spirit through the flower.

Forgotten is our ancient tongue;
Too dull our ears, our eyes too blind,
Even quite to catch its notes, or find
Its symbols written bright among
All shapes of beauty. But 't is hard
When one can hear, to be debarred
From knowledge of the meaning sung.