Nothing that is shall perish utterly, But perish only to revive again In other forms, as clouds restore in rain The exhalations of the land and sea. Men build their houses from the masonry Of ruined tombs; the passion and the pain Of hearts, that long have ceased to beat, remain To throb in hearts that are, or are to be. So from old chronicles, where sleep in dust Names that once filled the world with trumpet tones, I build this verse; and flowers of song have thrust Their roots among the loose disjointed stones, Which to this end I fashion as I must. Quickened are they that touch the Prophet's bones.
To Music
Symphony by David Leo Diamond (1915 - 2005)
?. Dedication  [sung text not yet checked]
Authorship:
- by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882), "Dedication", appears in Michael Angelo, first published 1882
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Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]?. Invocation to Music  [sung text not yet checked]
Speak to us, Music, for the discord jars; The world's unwisdom brings or threatens Death. Speak, and redeem this misery of breath With that which keeps the stars Each to her point in the eternal wheel That all clear skies reveal. Speak to us; lift the nightmare from us; sing. The screams of chaos make the daylight mad. Where are the dew-drenched mornings that we had When the lithe lark took wing? Where the still summers, when more golden time Spoke to us, from the lime? Though these be gone, yet, still, Thy various voice May help assuage the pangs of our distress, May hush the yelling where the fiends rejoice, Quiet the sleepless, making sorrow less. Speak, therefore, Music; speak. Calm our despair ; bring courage to the weak. Ah, lovely Friend, bring wisdom to the strong, Before a senseless strength has all destroyed. Be sunlight on the night of brooding wrong. Be form upon the chaos of the void. Be Music ; be Thyself; a prompting given Of Peace, of Beauty waiting, and sin shriven.
Authorship:
- by John Masefield (1878 - 1967), title 1: "Music 1939-40", title 2: "A Cry to Music", appears in Poems, first published 1951
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Confirmed with John Masefield, Bluebells, and other verse, New York,: Macmillan, 1961, page 121, titled "A Cry to Music". First published under the title "Music 1939-40".
Researcher for this text: Emily Ezust [Administrator]