BETA

The Poet’s Mind.

Vex not thou the poet’s mind1
With thy shallow wit :2
Vex not thou the poet’s mind,3
For thou canst not fathom it.4
Clear and bright it should be ever,5
Flowing like a crystal river ;6
Bright as light, and clear as wind :7
Clear as summer mountain-streams,8
Bright as the inwoven beams,9
Which beneath their crisping sapphire10
In the midday, floating o’er11
The golden sands, make evermore12
To a blossom-starréd shore.13
Hence away, unhallowed laughter !14
Darkbrowed sophist, come not anear ;15
The poet’s mind is holy ground ;16
Hollow smile and frozen sneer17
Come not here.18
Holy water will I pour19
Into every spicy flower20
Of the laurel shrubs that hedge it round.21
The flowers would faint at your cruel cheer.22
In your eye there is death,23
There is frost in your breath24
Which would blight the plants.25
Where you stand you cannot hear26
From thhe groves within27
The wild bird’s din.28
In the heart of the garden the merry bird
chants,29
It would fall to the ground if you came in.30
In the middle leaps a fountain31
Like sheet lightning,32
Ever brightening33
With a low melodious thunder ;34
All day and all night it is ever drawn35
From the brain of the purple mountain36
Which stands in the distance yonder :37
It springs on a level of bowery lawn,38
And the mountain draws it from heaven
above,39
And it sings a song of undying love ;40
And yet, though its voice be so clear and full,41
You would never hear it—your ears are so
dull ;42
So keep where you are : you are foul with
sin ;43
It would shrink to the earth if you came in.44