Alone I sat - the summer day

Alone I sat; the summer day

Had died in smiling light away;

I saw it die, I watched it fade

From the misty hill and breezeless glade.

And thoughts in my soul were rushing,

And my heart bowed beneath their power;

And tears within my eyes were gushing

Because I could not speak the feeling,

The solemn joy around me stealing,

In that divine, untroubled hour.

I asked myself, O why has Heaven

Denied the precious gift to me,

The glorious gift to many given,

To speak their thoughts in poetry?

Dreams have encircled me, I said,

From careless childhood's sunny time;

Visions by ardent fancy fed

Since life was in its morning prime.

But now, when I had hoped to sing,

My fingers strike a tuneless string;

And still the burden of the strain—

I strive no more, 'tis all in vain.