BARDS of Passion and of Mirth

Ye have left your souls on earth!

Have ye souls in heaven too

Doubled-lived in regions new?

Yes and those of heaven commune 5

With the spheres of sun and moon;

With the noise of fountains wondrous

And the parle of voices thund'rous;

With the whisper of heaven's trees

And one another in soft ease 10

Seated on Elysian lawns

Browsed by none but Dian's fawns;

Underneath large blue-bells tented

Where the daisies are rose-scented

And the rose herself has got 15

Perfume which on earth is not;

Where the nightingale doth sing

Not a senseless trancèd thing

But divine melodious truth;

Philosophic numbers smooth; 20

Tales and golden histories

Of heaven and its mysteries.

Thus ye live on high and then

On the earth ye live again;

And the souls ye left behind you 25

Teach us here the way to find you

Where your other souls are joying

Never slumber'd never cloying.

Here your earth-born souls still speak

To mortals of their little week; 30

Of their sorrows and delights;

Of their passions and their spites;

Of their glory and their shame;

What doth strengthen and what maim.

Thus ye teach us every day 35

Wisdom though fled far away.

Bards of Passion and of Mirth

Ye have left your souls on earth!

Ye have souls in heaven too

Double-lived in regions new! 40