World Harmonies

                         I.
O God! what heavenly harmony once ran 
     Through all thine empire in its primal day, 
     When the young Stars went choiring on their way,
And radiant Angels their new song began, 
Harping in concert with unfallen man;
     One universal song went up for aye, 
     And infinite worlds, through all their bright array,
Gave not a note to mar the general plan:
Wo that man's sin should check th' eternal flow
     Of Nature’s melody, and rudely break
Earth’s concord with the lyres of Heaven; wo! wo!
     That the high Soul, for sordid Mammon’s sake,
Should fashion fetters for its brother Soul,
Binding the thoughts, which mount where the star-anthems roll.

                         II.
How harsh, how hateful, on undeafened ears
     Rings the loud cry of Tyranny and Wrong,
     Drowning the sweetness of the one great song,
Whose music thrills through all the chiming spheres;
How sad the harp whose wires corrode with tears;
     How wild the dying tone it pouts along,
     As its strained chords, once musical and strong,
Snap one by one, wasted through many years;
So sad — so wild — the withered, broken heart,
     Spoiled by Oppression, gives its dying tones
Long unremembering its serener part
     In the glad chorus of the choiring zones:
O, shall our world return and sing no more,
With worlds which neve sinned, the hymns they sung before?

                         III.
Shall Wrong forever peal its dissonant cry,
     And pining Sorrow load the wind with moans?
     Shall suffering hearts provoke the very stones
To thunder out against man’s tyranny,
Or the harsh jeers of scorn of obloquy
     Pour endless discord ‘mid the gladder tones
     Of the world-choir, till God himself disowns 
The earth he made? Spirit of love! reply.
No! Heaven forbid. Earth hath some souls in store,
     Who choir with God, good Angels, and the Spheres;
Our world shall join the mystic band once more,
     And chime harmonious through th’ eternal years;
Man’s soul shall triumph o’er its evil fate,
And Love, divine and pure, his heart shall renovate.

                         IV.
Sing on, bright Cherubs of th’ Eternal Choir!
     Worlds beyond this, where wrong was never know,
     Still chant in concert round the great white throne.
Hymn loud, ye Souls endued with heavenly fire;
Strike for high Truth the bold, majestic lyre;
     So shall your kindred spirits, one by one,
     Catch and re-wake the long-forgotten tone,
And with like truth the brother soul inspire.
Then shall the world to sinless peace return,
     And ancient glory crown the fields thereof;
No more nan’s soul with wasting passion burn,
     For wrong shall all be swallowed up in Love;
While myriad Seraphim, with harps re-strung,
And all the Stars, shall sing as when the world was young.