Shadows (Howe)/The Poet's Door

THE POET'S DOOR
WITHIN the circle of the lightWe sat alone, and all the roomBeyond the lamp was full of nightAnd hung about with shadowed gloom.
With love and music in his voiceHe read me from his lyric pageThe sweetest numbers of his choice,Songs of a blended youth and age.
Then telling forth another's song,Music and love rang doubly clear;The same soft cadence on his tongueBrought distant minstrelsy so near.
And to the doorway, strange and dim,I thought a mystic presence came With glowing mien, and gazed at himThat read, and gently spoke his name,
And said, "Hail, fellow soul of man,For here thy kindred voice at lastFulfils the song I once began;"Then back into the darkness passed.