Classic Poem

Perchance the voice that slumbers in thy breast
Was once a Titan's, when the world was young,
While the grand echo of the songs he sung
Is now by thee in majesty possessed.

The longings of the world it has expressed
In marvelous accents, and with puissant tongue;
And lo! it seems that thy great soul has wrung
The secrets from the demons and the blest.

And, when its grandeur falls upon mine ear,
Full of divinest power, in flawless ease,
In chants sublime with mighty passions weighed,
Ravished, I pause, and wondering, seem to hear,
Blent with the laugh of Mephistopheles,
The voice of Peter preaching his Crusade!