At a Solemn Musick
Let the musicians begin,
Let every instrument awaken and instruct us
In love’ s willing river and love’ s dear discipline:
We wait, silent, in consent and in the penance
Of patience, awaiting the serene exaltation
Which is the liberation and conclusion of expiation.
Now may the chief musician say:
“Lust and emulation have dwelt amoung us
Like barbarous kings: have conquered us:
Have inhabited our hearts: devoured and ravished
— With the savage greed and avarice of fire —
The substance of pity and compassion.”