Wake Me a Song

Out of the silences wake me a song,

Beautiful, sad, and soft, and low;

Let the loveliest music sound along,

And wing each note with a wail of woe:

Dim and drear

As hope's last tear;

Out of the silences wake me a hymn,

Whose sounds are like shadows soft and dim.

Out of the stillness in your heart —

A thousand songs are sleeping there —

Wake me a song, thou child of art!

The song of a hope in a last despair:

Dark and low,

A chant of woe;

Out of the stillness, tone by tone,

Cold as a snowflake, low as a moan.

Out of the darkness flash me a song,

Brightly dark and darkly bright;

Let it sweep as a lone star sweeps along

The mystical shadows of the night:

Sing it sweet;

Where nothing is drear, or dark, or dim,

And earth-song soars into heavenly hymn.