Poem by Francis Bret Harte

On a Pen of Thomas Starr King

This is the reed the dead musician dropped,
  With tuneful magic in its sheath still hidden;
The prompt allegro of its music stopped,
  Its melodies unbidden.

But who shall finish the unfinished strain,
  Or wake the instrument to awe and wonder,
And bid the slender barrel breathe again,
  An organ-pipe of thunder!

His pen! what humbler memories cling about
  Its golden curves! what shapes and laughing graces
Slipped from its point, when his full heart went out
  In smiles and courtly phrases?

The truth, half jesting, half in earnest flung;
  The word of cheer, with recognition in it;
The note of alms, whose golden speech outrung
  The golden gift within it.

But all in vain the enchanter’s wand we wave:
  No stroke of ours recalls his magic vision:
The incantation that its power gave
  Sleeps with the dead magician.

1. Half an Hour before Supper
2. The Latest Chinese Outrage
3. To a Sea-Bird
4. Grandmother Tenterden
5. Miss Blanche Says

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