'SING of the things we know and love.' <br />But the singer made reply, <br />'There are greater lands to tell you of <br />And stars to steer you by.' <br /> <br />So he sang of worlds austere and strange, <br />Of seas so wildly wide <br />That only the journeying swan might range <br />The marches of the tide. <br /> <br />Men heard the thunder and the rain, <br />The tempest in his song, <br />They turned to their hearth fires again <br />And thought the night too long. <br /> <br />And only one man dared to hear <br />The deeds that singer told; <br />Against the stars he swung his spear <br />And died ere he was old.<br /><br />Marjorie Lowry Christie Pickthall<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/the-hearer/
