Poems (Dudley)/Art's Despair

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ART'S DESPAIR.
ARTIST in whose flaming eye Lofty dreams consume,Come from haunts of wood and sky, Nobler themes illume;
Leave the mountain lone and steep, Paint the heights of fame;Leave the shadow sad and deep, Paint a deathless name;
Dip thy brush for highest art, Paint a human soul,—Floods of transport, ebbs of heart, Mighty self-control;
Paint a promise, limn a faith, Burning dream of youth;Color Rapture's mortal wraith, Painter, paint a truth:
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Paint a moment, Artist strong; Sketch an hour's decay,March of ages, silence long, Sorcerer, paint a Day:
Paint a star-beam, clear and lone, Tint the evening breeze;Sketch a cadence, or a tone From the distant seas.
Paint a flight, sustained and long, Not the puny wing,—Not with singer, but with song, Make thy canvas sing.
Paint a trembling, hopeless sigh On the summer air,Or from colors deep and high, Paint a burning prayer;
O! this haunting unattained, Baffling hand and eye;All is loss with it ungained Artist, paint and die!
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