The Poet's Secret

The poet’s secret I must know,   If that will calm my restless mind. I hail the seasons as they go,   I woo the sunshine, brave the wind. I scan the lily and the rose,   I nod to every nodding tree, I follow every stream that flows,   And wait beside the steadfast sea. I question melancholy eyes,   I touch the lips of women fair: Their lips and eyes may make me wise,   But what I seek for is not there. In vain I watch the day and night,   In vain the world through space may roll; I never see the mystic light   Which fills the poet’s happy soul. Through life I hear the rhythmic flow   Whose meaning into song must turn; Revealing all he longs to know,   The secret each alone must learn.