Ode to music

So Music is a science

That makes us laugh and sing and dance.

And a cure for melancholy

or for men who are melancholy

About something which has no worth,

But leaves them uncaring.

Everywhere it goes it brings joy;

The miserable are comforted

And just by hearing it,

It makes men rejoice.

No instrument in all the world

Is not founded upon music,

Nor that with wind or touch or string

Cannot play in consort.

All its deeds are of greater measure

Than any other measure.

It creates all the carols,

In towns, in cities, in schools,

Where one performs the office divine,

Which is offered with bread and wine.

Can one think of anything more fitting

Or make a more gracious offering

Than to exalt God and his glory,

To praise, to serve, to love, and to believe;

And his sweet mother, singing,

Who is so full of grace and good

That the heaven and all the earth

And whatsoever the worlds surround,

Great, small, average, and fine,

Are guarded and sustained by them.

I have heard it said that the angels,

All the saints, and the archangels,

In voices fine, strong, and clear

Praise in song God the father

For he in glory made them

Like true and perfect friends,

And that also through his grace

They may soon see him face to face.

Gloria.

For the saints can only sing

When the music sings in them:

Thus is Music in paradise.

Once David, the prophet,

When he wanted to appease the ire

Of God, he consorted with his lyre,

Which he played so wondrously,

And sang so devotedly

Hymns, psalms, and prayers

Even as we read them,

That his harp and his song

So pleased God that he relented.

Orpheus led Eurydice,

The elegant and fine lady, out of Hades

With his harp and with his sweet song.

This poet about whom to you I sing

Played his harp so beautifully

And sang so sweetly

That the great trees lowered their branches

And the rivers changed their course

To hear him and listen.

So one must believe without doubting

That these are apparent miracles

That Music has made. It's certainly true.