503

Better?than Music! For I?who heard it?
I was used?to the Birds?before?
This?was different?'Twas Translation?
Of all tunes I knew?and more?

'Twasn't contained?like other stanza?
No one could play it?the second time?
But the Composer?perfect Mozart?
Perish with him?that Keyless Rhyme!

So?Children?told how Brooks in Eden?
Bubbled a better?Melody?
Quaintly infer?Eve's great surrender?
Urging the feet?that would?not?fly?

Children?matured?are wiser?mostly?
Eden?a legend?dimly told?
Eve?and the Anguish?Grandame's story?
But?I was telling a tune?I heard?

Not such a strain?the Church?baptizes?
When the last Saint?goes up the Aisles?
Not such a stanza splits the silence?
When the Redemption strikes her Bells?

Let me not spill?its smallest cadence?
Humming?for promise?when alone?
Humming?until my faint Rehearsal?
Drop into tune?around the Throne?