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O HEARKEN THE SO GENTLE PLAINT, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
Last Line: O! Hearken the celestial song
Subject(s): Singing & Singers; Soul




O HEARKEN the so gentle plaint
That weeps alone to soothe your ill,
As shyly sounding and as faint
As ripples on a mossy sill!


You know the voice (once dear to you
But now the singer's hid away
And like a widow veiled from view,
Although she proudly fronts the day,


And thro' her fluttering weeds astr
Before the gusty autumn wind
The steadfast star of truth doth bea
Upon the troubled heart behind.


It saith, (this voice you hear again
True life is to the kind of heart;
That all of hate and malice wane
To nothingness when we depart.


It tells the bright felicities
Of simple hearts that seek their kin
In selfish bridal, and the bliss
Of peace that seek nought to win.


O hearken the returning voice
In spousal rapture singing clear!
O what can make the soul rejoice
Like staunching of another's tear


The soul that suffers without wrath
Is but astray in passing wrong,
How plain to follow is the path!
O! hearken the celestial song.






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