Page:Stevenson - Songs of Travel (1896).djvu/56

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.

XXVII

TO THE MUSE

Resign the rhapsody, the dream,
To men of larger reach;
Be ours the quest of a plain theme,
The piety of speech.


As monkish scribes from morning break
Toiled till the close of light,
Nor thought a day too long to make
One line or letter bright:


We also with an ardent mind,
Time, wealth, and fame forgot,

40