Say not, O say not, we are strangers, <br />By freak chance together brought; <br />Remind me not of lurking dangers <br />In wreaths of friendship quickly wrought. <br />Some sweet attraction draws me to you; <br />From Memory's harp strange murmurs flow; <br />And something makes me think I knew you <br />Beyond the sea of Long Ago. <br /> <br />Touch the sleeping strings and <br />tell me, tell me whether, <br />Thence comes music sweet and low: <br />Did not we walk some shore together <br />Beyond the sea of Long Ago? <br /> <br />Your eyes, in bashful glances falling, <br />Light up a landscape far away; <br />Your voice-- to hear it is recalling <br />A sweet but long forgotten lay. <br />When all the year was pleasant weather, <br />And none had heard of pain or woe, <br />Did not we sing this tune together <br />Beyond the sea of Long Ago? <br /> <br />Think not, although I speak so boldly, <br />That idle words are on my tongue; <br />Receive my greeting not so coldly, <br />Nor hush the harp that would have sung; <br />For lightly touched, as by a feather, <br />The sleeping strings will thrill, I know: <br />Were not our spririts linked together <br />Beyond the sea of Long Ago?<br /><br />Henry Clay Work<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/touch-the-sleeping-strings-again/
