Classic Poem

Hail , Music! all hail!
Earth's languages fail
To tell what thou tellest to me!
O spirit divine,
Space cannot confine,
All hearts are led captive by thee!

At a mortal's command,
From the mystical land
Where the spirit of Harmony dwells,
And the great river starts
That flows through all hearts,
Thou com'st with thy magical spells.

To celestial spheres,
Seen by sages and seers
On the rush of thy magical tide,
I am borne over time
To the regions sublime,
Where the mighty immortals abide.

Oh, the cankers of time,
In that passion sublime,
Are swept with earth's grossness away;
We rise to a glory
Where hearts grow not hoary,
And taste not of death and decay.

Thou language of angels!
Hosannas! evangels!
The great Hallelujahs are thine;
The great storms of gladness,
The glorious madness,
That make us poor mortals divine.

So holy and pure,
I can hardly endure
The glory that circles me round!
Yet forever I'd dwell
In this heavenly spell,
This infinite ocean of sound.

No logic can grasp thee!
Love only can clasp thee!
For wholly celestial thou art!
To gauge thee by reason
Seems absolute treason,
All hail to thee, Queen of the heart!