SENTIMENT AND STORY. THE CHOIR INVISIBLE. GEORGE ELIOT. Он, may I join the choir invisible Of those immortal dead who live again In pulses stirred to generosity, In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn For miserable aims that end with self, In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like stars, And with their mild persistence urge man's search To vaster issues! So to live is heaven: To make undying music in the world, For which we struggled, failed, and agonized Rebellious flesh that would not be subdued, That sobbed religiously in yearning song, That watched to ease the burthen of the world, And what may yet be better- saw within To higher reverence more mixed with love- This is life to come, Which martyred men have made more glorious Whose music is the gladness of the world. |