Classic Poem

What boots it on the Gods to call?
 Since, answered or unheard,
We perish with the Gods and all
 Things made—except the Word.

Ere certain Fate had touched a heart
 By fifty years made cold,
I judged thee, Lyde, and thy art
 O'erblown and over-bold.

But he—but he, of whom bereft
 I suffer vacant days—
He on his shield not meanly left—
 He cherished all thy lays.

Witness the magic coffer stocked
 With convoluted runes
Wherein thy very voice was locked
 And linked to circling tunes.

Witness thy portrait, smoke-defiled,
 That decked his shelter-place.
Life seemed more present, wrote the child,
 Beneath thy well-known face.

And when the grudging days restored
 Him for a breath to home,
He, with fresh crowds of youth, adored
 Thee making mirth in Rome.

Therefore, I humble, join the hosts,
 Loyal and loud, who bow
To thee as Queen of Song—and ghosts,
 For I remember how

Never more rampant rose the Hall
 At thy audacious line
Than when the news came in from Gaul
 Thy son had—followed mine.

But thou didst hide it in thy breast
 And, capering, took the brunt
Of blaze and blare, and launched the jest
 That swept next week the Front.

Singer to children! Ours possessed
 Sleep before noon—but thee,
Wakeful each midnight for the rest,
 No holocaust shall free!

Yet they who use the Word assigned,
 To hearten and make whole,
Not less than Gods have served mankind,
 Though vultures rend their soul.