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Alfred, Lord Tennyson(1809–1892)

Sonnet 88

Wild bird, whose warble, liquid sweet,
Rings Eden through the budded quicks,5
O tell me where the senses mix,
O tell me where the passions meet,
 
Whence radiate: fierce extremes employ
Thy spirits in the darkening leaf,
And in the midmost heart of grief
Thy passion clasps a secret joy:
 
And I—my harp would prelude woe—
I cannot all command the strings;
The glory of the sum of things
Will flash along the chords and go.