Bliss Carman, et al., eds. The World’s Best Poetry.
Volume IV. The Higher Life. 1904. | | | | VII. Death: Immortality: Heaven | | “Tell me, ye wingèd winds” | | Charles Mackay (1814–1889) |
| | | TELL me, ye wingèd winds, | |
| That round my pathway roar, | |
| Do ye not know some spot | |
| Where mortals weep no more? | |
| Some lone and pleasant dell, | 5 |
| Some valley in the west, | |
| Where, free from toil and pain, | |
| The weary soul may rest? | |
| The loud wind dwindled to a whisper low, | |
| And sighed for pity as it answered,—“No.” | 10 |
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| Tell me, thou mighty deep, | |
| Whose billows round me play, | |
| Know’st thou some favored spot, | |
| Some island far away, | |
| Where weary man may find | 15 |
| The bliss for which he sighs,— | |
| Where sorrow never lives, | |
| And friendship never dies? | |
| The loud waves, rolling in perpetual flow, | |
| Stopped for awhile, and sighed to answer,—“No.” | 20 |
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| And thou, serenest moon, | |
| That, with such lovely face, | |
| Dost look upon the earth, | |
| Asleep in night’s embrace; | |
| Tell me, in all thy round | 25 |
| Hast thou not seen some spot | |
| Where miserable man | |
| May find a happier lot? | |
| Behind a cloud the moon withdrew in woe, | |
| And a voice, sweet but sad, responded,—“No.” | 30 |
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| Tell me, my secret soul, | |
| O, tell me, Hope and Faith, | |
| Is there no resting-place | |
| From sorrow, sin, and death? | |
| Is there no happy spot | 35 |
| Where mortals may be blest, | |
| Where grief may find a balm, | |
| And weariness a rest? | |
| Faith, Hope, and Love, best boons to mortals given, | |
| Waved their bright wings, and whispered,—“Yes, in heaven!” | 40 | | | |
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