At an Organ Recital

The music swells and broadens—God! how sweet
To listen while the notes grow loud and roll
In great reverberations through one's soul,
And crowd in solemn grandeur, and repeat
In fugal intertwining; till comes fleet
A tripping allegro, a merry dole,
That merges into one great, glorious whole
Of throbbing harmony in measured beat.

And then it faints and sinks a little while;
And then wells up from out the silence deep
With reedy tremulant, and once again
The flutes and diapasons pile on pile,
Wave upon wave seem wrought, until they reap
Ecstactic joy—all passion—and all pain.

J.B.