The Seraph And Poet

By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The seraph sings before the manifest
God-one, and in the burning of the Seven,
And with the full life of consummate Heaven
Heaving beneath him like a mother's breast
Warm with her first-born's slumber in that nest.
The poet sings upon the earth grave-riven
Before the naughty world soon self-forgiven
For wronging him; and in the darkness prest
From his own soul by worldly weights. Even so,
Sing, seraph with the glory! Heaven is high --
Sing, poet with the sorrow! Earth is low.
The universe's inward voices cry
Amen to either song of joy and wo --
Sing seraph, -- poet, -- sing on equally.