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

By Stephen HenryThayer

752 Poet of Earth

OH, be not ether-borne, poet of earth;

Stretch not thy wings to such a cloudless height

As ne’er to know the darkness of the night,

As ne’er to feel the touch of grief or mirth

That lives in human sympathy, whose birth

Is longed for in this world of love and blight;

Thou, too, must drink of sorrow and delight,

Must taste the joy of hope, and feel its dearth;

God’s service lies not out of reach, and heaven

Is found alone through lowly ministry;

Some souls there are whose dumb chords wait the breath

Of other souls, divinely gifted, given

To voice the deeper tones, and lead the way

To immortality, through life and death!