Israfel E-book

                                 1831

                               ISRAFEL

                          by Edgar Allan Poe








Electronically Enhanced Text (c) Copyright 1996, World Library(R)



              ISRAFEL
-
    In Heaven a spirit doth dwell
      "Whose heart-strings are a lute";
    None sing so wildly well
    As the angel Israfel,
    And the giddy stars (so legends tell),
    Ceasing their hymns, attend the spell
      Of his voice, all mute.
-
    Tottering above
      In her highest noon,
      The enamored moon
    Blushes with love,
      While, to listen, the red levin
      (With the rapid Pleiads, even,
      Which were seven,)
      Pauses in Heaven.
-
    And they say (the starry choir
      And the other listening things)
    That Israfeli's fire
                                                                  
    Is owing to that lyre
      By which he sits and sings-
    The trembling living wire
      Of those unusual strings.
-
    But the skies that angel trod,
      Where deep thoughts are a duty-
    Where Love's a grown-up God-
      Where the Houri glances are
    Imbued with all the beauty
      Which we worship in a star.
-
    Therefore thou art not wrong,
      Israfeli, who despisest
    An unimpassioned song;
    To thee the laurels belong,
      Best bard, because the wisest!
    Merrily live, and long!
-
    The ecstasies above
                                                                  
      With thy burning measures suit-
    Thy grief, thy joy, thy hate, thy love,
      With the fervor of thy lute-
      Well may the stars be mute!
-
    Yes, Heaven is thine; but this
      Is a world of sweets and sours;
      Our flowers are merely- flowers,
    And the shadow of thy perfect bliss
      Is the sunshine of ours.
-
    If I could dwell
    Where Israfel
      Hath dwelt, and he where I,
    He might not sing so wildly well
      A mortal melody,
    While a bolder note than this might swell
      From my lyre within the sky.
-
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                     THE END