The Calling

I.Tell me, tell me, do I belong
Between distress and pleasure?
Tell me, tell me, right or wrong -
'Tis joyful or wretched treasure?
Tell me, tell me for the last time
Is it a trivial or a worthy rhyme?

II.Thus I sat engaged in dreaming,
As my radiant soul was beaming,
Doubting and soundly screaming;
'Twas a feeling digging slowly,
Till my soul was taken wholly,
Chanting loudly, chanting lowly:

III.World! You bestowed the poet's tools,
Infinite longing and deepest desire,
I'm your servant, a vessel of poet's fire,
And gladly I abide by thy rules:
I grow on those before me,
And, I hope, those after grow better than me.