Page:Poems Denver.djvu/206

I listened to the voice that called me,
Until its eloquence enthralled me;
And in the solitude of song
My heart reposed and tarried long.

I strove each hidden gem to find
 That yet might undiscovered hide;
I sought each broken link to bind
 That carelessly was cast aside.
I drank the dew from her sweet flowers,
I stole the odors from her bowers,
I caught her harmonies, and long
Inhabited the land of song.

Tired of too sweet a solitude,
 At length I sent my spirit forth;
And like the dove when stayed the flood,
 To find a resting place on earth,
It wandered restlessly and lonely,
And found a waste of waters only,
Or if it paused to look around,
Not even an olive leaf it found.

But like the dove, unto the ark,
 It could not wander back again;
When once it launched the spirit's barque
 On the wide waste, it must remain,
Given up to tempest and to terror,
To tears, to loneliness, to error;
So thought I, and again I sung,
Yet sadder was the harp I strung.