Poems (Botta)/Lines to One Who Wished to Read a Poem I Had Written

New York: G. P. Putnam and Company, pages 29–30

LINES

TO ONE WHO WISHED TO READ A POEM I HAD WRITTEN.


Nay, read it not, thou wouldst not knowWhat lives within my heart,For from that fount it does not flow;’Tis but the voice of Art.
I could not bid my proud heart speak,Before the idle throng;Rather in silence would it breakWith its full tide of Song.
Yes, rather would it break, than bare,To cold and careless eyes,The hallowed dreams that linger there,The tears and agonies.
My lyre is skillful to repressEach deep, impassioned tone;Its gushing springs of tendernessWould flow for one alone.
The rock, that to the parching sandWould yield no dewy drop,Struck by the pilgrim prophet’s wand,Gave all its treasures up.
My heart then, is my only lyre;The prophet hath not spoken,Nor kindled its celestial fire;So, let its chords be broken.
I would not thou shouldst hear those lays,Though harsh they might not be;Though thou, perchance, might’st hear and praise,They would not speak of me.