Scan 7

The Violinist's Guide (1916), 1916

33 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.

1To a Violin

2By Celia Thaxter

4What wondrous power from heaven upon thee wrought?

5 What prisoned Ariel within thee broods?

6Marvel of human skill and human thought,

7 Light as a dry leaf in the winter woods,

9Thou mystic thing, all beautiful. What mind

10 Conceived thee, what intelligence began

11And out of chaos thy rare shape designed,

12 Thou delicate and perfect work of man!

14Across my hands thou liest mute and still;

15 Thou wilt not breathe to me thy secret fine;

16Thy matchless tones the eager air shall thrill

17 To no entreaty or command of mine;

19But comes thy master, lo! thou yieldest all:

20 Passion and pathos, rapture and despair;

21To the soul's need thy searching voice doth call

22 In language exquisite beyond compare,

24Till into speech articulate at last

25 Thou seem'st to break, and thy charmed listener hears

26Thee wake the echoes of the vanished past,

27 Touching the source of gladness and of tears;

29And with bowed head he lets the sweet wave roll

30 Across him, swayed by that weird power of thine,

31And reverence and wonder fill his soul

32 That Man's creation should be so divine.

The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.