Page:Poems Denver.djvu/207

I sought the chambers of decay,
 I wandered through the halls of death;
I stole their sombre gloom away,
 And paused to catch the last drawn breath.
I mingled them with every measure,
I bound them up with every treasure,
That trembled in my heart, and long
I drank the bitterness of song.

I stood alone, where all was life,
 I grieved alone where all was mirth,
Within was a perpetual strife,
 That told me life was little worth,
The cares, perplexities and sorrows
That crowd upon succeeding morrows,
Till from its animated clay,
My loathing spirit turned away.

Then came a change—I know not when,
 Nor how, but like a spirit's wing
A breath of bliss came o'er me then,
 When once again I strove to sing.
I read the language of the flowers,
I drank the essence of the hours,
I gathered gladness from the skies,
And felt new hope within me rise,

Not as of old to grasp the lyre,
 And blend its every tone with mine,
Thus casting pure, poetic fire
 Before ambition's idol-shrine,