Edmund Clarence Stedman, ed. (1833–1908). An American Anthology, 1787–1900. 1900.

By ElizabethStoddard

423 The Poet’s Secret

THE POET’S secret I must know,

If that will calm my restless mind.

I hail the seasons as they go,

I woo the sunshine, brave the wind.

I scan the lily and the rose,

I nod to every nodding tree,

I follow every stream that flows,

And wait beside the steadfast sea.

I question melancholy eyes,

I touch the lips of women fair:

Their lips and eyes may make me wise,

But what I seek for is not there.

In vain I watch the day and night,

In vain the world through space may roll;

I never see the mystic light

Which fills the poet’s happy soul.

Through life I hear the rhythmic flow

Whose meaning into song must turn;

Revealing all he longs to know,

The secret each alone must learn.