Music At The Villa Marina

Robert Louis Stevenson 1850 (Edinburgh) – 1894 (Vailima, Samoa)



FOR some abiding central source of power,
Strong-smitten steady chords, ye seem to flow
And, flowing, carry virtue.  Far below,
The vain tumultuous passions of the hour
Fleet fast and disappear; and as the sun
Shines on the wake of tempests, there is cast
O'er all the shattered ruins of my past
A strong contentment as of battles won.

And yet I cry in anguish, as I hear
The long drawn pageant of your passage roll
Magnificently forth into the night.
To yon fair land ye come from, to yon sphere
Of strength and love where now ye shape your flight,
O even wings of music, bear my soul!

Ye have the power, if but ye had the will,
Strong-smitten steady chords in sequence grand,
To bear me forth into that tranquil land
Where good is no more ravelled up with ill;
Where she and I, remote upon some hill
Or by some quiet river's windless strand,
May live, and love, and wander hand in hand,
And follow nature simply, and be still.

From this grim world, where, sadly, prisoned, we
Sit bound with others' heart-strings as with chains,
And, if one moves, all suffer, - to that Goal,
If such a land, if such a sphere, there be,
Thither, from life and all life's joys and pains,
O even wings of music, bear my soul!

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

1:09 min read
122

Quick analysis:

Scheme abbacddc xefxfE ghhgghhg ijeijE
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 1,189
Words 228
Stanzas 4
Stanza Lengths 8, 6, 8, 6

Robert Louis Stevenson

Robert Louis Balfour Stevenson was a Scottish novelist, poet, essayist, and travel writer. more…

All Robert Louis Stevenson poems | Robert Louis Stevenson Books

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