_What vague traditions do the golden eves.
What legends do the dawns
Inscribe in fire on Heaven's azure leaves,
The red sun colophons?_
_What ancient Stories do the waters verse?
What tales of war and love
Do winds within the Earth's vast house rehearse,
God's stars stand guard above?--_
_Would I could know them as they are expressed
In hue and melody!
And say, in words, the beauties they suggest.
Language their mystery!_
_And in one song magnificently rise,
The music of the spheres,
That more than marble should immortalize
My name in after years._
