Stay with me, Poesy! playmate of childhood! <br />Friend of my manhood! delight of my youth! <br />Roamer with me over valley and wildwood, <br />Searching for loveliness, groping for Truth. <br />Stay with me, dwell with me, spirit of Poesy; <br />Dark were the world if thy bloom should depart; <br />Glory would cease in the sunlight and starlight, <br />Freshness and courage would fade from the heart. <br /> <br />Stay with me, comfort me, now more than ever, <br />When years stealing over me lead me to doubt <br />If men, ay, women, are all we believed them <br />When we two first wandered the green earth about! <br />Stay with me, strengthen me, soother, adorner, <br />Lest knowlkedge, not wisdom, should cumber my brain, <br />And tempt me to sit in the chair of the scorner, <br />And say, with sad Solomon, all things are vain. <br /> <br />Stay with me, lend me thy magical mirror, <br />Show me the darkness extinguished in light; <br />Show me Today's little triumph of Error <br />Foiled by tomorrow's great triumph of Right! <br />Stay with me, nourish me, robe all creation <br />In colors celestial of amber and blue; <br />Magnify littleness, glorify commoness, <br />Pull down the false and establish the true. <br /> <br />Stay with me Poesy! let me not stagnate! <br />Despairing with fools, or believing with knaves, <br />That men must be either the one or the other,-- <br />Victors or victims, oppressors or slaves! <br />Stay with me, cling to me, while there is life in me! <br />Lead me, assist me, direct and control! <br />Be in the shade what thou wert in the sunshine, <br />Source of true happiness, light of my soul!<br /><br />Charles Mackay<br /><br />http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-invocation-to-poesy/
