Give ear unto the gentle lay <br />That's only sad that it may please; <br />It is discreet, and light it is: <br />A whiff of wind o'er buds in May. <br /> <br />The voice was known to you (and dear?), <br />But it is muffled latterly <br />As is a widow,-still, as she <br />It doth its sorrow proudly bear, <br /> <br />And through the sweeping mourning veil <br />That in the gusts of Autumn blows, <br />Unto the heart that wonders, shows <br />Truth like a star now flash, now fail. <br /> <br />It says,-the voice you knew again!- <br />That kindness, goodness is our life, <br />And that of envy, hatred, strife, <br />When death is come, shall naught remain. <br /> <br />It says how glorious to be <br />Like children, without more delay, <br />The tender gladness it doth say <br />Of peace not bought with victory. <br /> <br />Accept the voice,-ah, hear the whole <br />Of its persistent, artless strain: <br />Naught so can soothe a soul's own pain, <br />As making glad another soul! <br /> <br />It pines in bonds but for a day, <br />The soul that without murmur bears. . . . <br />How unperplexed, how free it fares! <br />Oh, listen to the gentle lay!<br /><br />Paul Verlaine<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/give-ear-unto-the-gentle-lay/
