Classic Poem

I

Let us hymn thee for our silent brothers,
Briefly, rudely, in the smoky pauses
Of a battle, in the stress and scourging
Of the topsail past thy holy headlands.
Like a suitor heart, the heart possessor
Shall adore thee, and in sacred fury
Strike out music once, with exultation.
Hear us, hear us, O Delight, O Sunrise,
O sole Answer and supreme Adventure,
Youth, ah, Youth! all men's desire and sorrow.

If that guest thou art of whom they tell us,
Sweet recalled, but hard of recognition,
Well for us in secret places, Goddess,
Who have had of thee Actaeon's vision.
Gaining, losing, through one boundless moment,
Blest, imperial, in the air of morning,
While the doom is nigh us, let us hymn thee!
Hope forsworn, be thine this salutation;
Thine, beholden Beauty, thine this heart-break;
Youth, ah, Youth! all men's desire and sorrow.

II

Where thrums the bee and the honeysuckle hovers,
Gather, golden lasses, to a roundelay:
Dance, dance, playfellows and lovers,
Headlong down the garden, in the heart of May,
Youth is slipping, dripping, pearl on pearl, away.

Hardly to-morrow will a cheek be rounder;
Even a light foot was lighter yesterday.
Spread the full sail, for soon the shallops founder!
Flaunt the red rose, for soon the stalks decay!
Youth is slipping, dripping, pearl on pearl, away.

Dials are shifting, birds of night are calling:
Dance, you starry striplings, round the fountain-spray.
With that mellow music out of sunshine falling,
With those precious waters trickling into clay,
Youth is slipping, dripping, pearl or pearl, away.