Charles Mackay

An Invocation to Poesy

Stay with me, Poesy! playmate of childhood!
Friend of my manhood! delight of my youth!
Roamer with me over valley and wildwood,
Searching for loveliness, groping for Truth.
Stay with me, dwell with me, spirit of Poesy;
Dark were the world if thy bloom should depart;
Glory would cease in the sunlight and starlight,
Freshness and courage would fade from the heart.

Stay with me, comfort me, now more than ever,
When years stealing over me lead me to doubt
If men, ay, women, are all we believed them
When we two first wandered the green earth about!
Stay with me, strengthen me, soother, adorner,
Lest knowlkedge, not wisdom, should cumber my brain,
And tempt me to sit in the chair of the scorner,
And say, with sad Solomon, all things are vain.

Stay with me, lend me thy magical mirror,
Show me the darkness extinguished in light;
Show me Today's little triumph of Error
Foiled by tomorrow's great triumph of Right!
Stay with me, nourish me, robe all creation
In colors celestial of amber and blue;
Magnify littleness, glorify commoness,
Pull down the false and establish the true.

Stay with me Poesy! let me not stagnate!
Despairing with fools, or believing with knaves,
That men must be either the one or the other,--
Victors or victims, oppressors or slaves!
Stay with me, cling to me, while there is life in me!
Lead me, assist me, direct and control!
Be in the shade what thou wert in the sunshine,
Source of true happiness, light of my soul!