A Poem About the Voice of the Earth
Alfred Tennyson
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An Editorial Note:
Alfred Tennyson (06 August 1809 – 06 October
1892) was widely considered a sage in his day, and is
one of the most quoted poets in theosophical literature.
“The Dreamer”, which examines the idea of a future
golden age in our planet, is the last poem Tennyson
wrote. It is also a theosophical meditation which closes
with a reference to the Pythagorean music of the spheres.
(Carlos Cardoso Aveline)
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On a midnight in midwinter when all but the winds were dead,
“The meek shall inherit the earth” was a Scripture that rang through his head,
Till he dreamed that a Voice of the Earth went wailingly past him and said:
“I am losing the light of my Youth
And the Vision that led me of old,
And I clash with an iron Truth,
When I make for an Age of gold,
And I would that my race were run,
For teeming with liars, and madmen, and knaves,
And wearied of Autocrats, Anarchs, and Slaves,
And darkened with doubts of a Faith that saves,
And crimson with battles, and hollow with graves,
To the wail of my winds, and the moan of my waves
I whirl, and I follow the Sun.”
Was it only the wind of the Night shrilling out Desolation and wrong
Through a dream of the dark? Yet he thought that he answered her wail with a song –
Moaning your losses, O Earth,
Heart-weary and overdone!
But all’s well that ends well,
Whirl, and follow the Sun!
He is racing from heaven to heaven
And less will be lost than won,
For all’s that ends well,
Whirl, and follow the Sun!
The Reign of the Meek upon earth,
O weary one, has it begun?
But all’s well that ends well,
Whirl, and follow the Sun!
For moans will have grown sphere-music
Or ever your racebe run!
And all’s well that ends well,
Whirl, and follow the Sun!
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The above poem is reproduced according to its text in the volume “Selected Poems”, Alfred Tennyson, Gramercy Books, New York, 1993, 256 pp., see pp. 96-97. On the information that “The Dreamer” was the last poem Tennyson wrote, see p. 8 of the same volume.
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