Epilogue

Whatever I have said or sung,

Some bitter notes my harp would give,

Yea, tho' there often seem'd to live

A contradiction on the tongue,

Yet Hope had never lost her youth;

She did but look through dimmer eyes;

Or Love but play'd with gracious lies,

Because he felt so fix'd in truth:

And if the song were full of care,

He breathed the spirit of the song;

And if the words were sweet and strong

He set his royal signet there;

Abiding with me till I sail

To seek thee on the mystic deeps,

And this electric force, that keeps

A thousand pulses dancing, fail.