Hail and Farewell

The poem is sung.
The picture quite
Finished and hung
In the candid light;
But poet and painter must go away

Ere they hear what the critical people say.
Age after age,
Without a break,
A prophet shall rage
By a lonely lake:
And know not ere he has gone away
Who is to listen to what he'll say.

But the poet shall hear,
The painter see
The praises dear
Of their mystery:
And poet and painter and prophet find
The glory they thought they had left behind.

There is an ear
To hear the song,
An eye to peer
At the picture long:
A brain to gather the tale and bless
The prophet who spoke to the wilderness.

The Hill of Vision [1912]