Victorian Ladies Playing the Piano with Longfellow Poem

THE SINGERS

God sent his Singers upon earthWith songs of sadness and of mirth,That they might touch the hearts of men,And bring them back to heaven again.

The first, a youth with soul of fire,Held in his hand a golden lyre;Through groves he wandered, and by streams,Playing the music of our dreams.

The second, with a bearded face,Stood singing in the market-place,And stirred with accents deep and loudThe hearts of all the listening crowd.

A gray old man, the third and last,Sang in cathedrals dim and vast,While the majestic organ rolledContrition from its mouths of gold.

And those who heard the Singers threeDisputed which the best might be;For still their music seemed to startDiscordant echoes in each heart.

But the great Master said, “I seeNo best in kind, but in degree;I gave a various gift to each,To charm, to strengthen and to teach.

“These are the three great chords of might,And he whose ear is tuned arightWill hear no discord in the three,But the most perfect harmony.”
~ Henry Wadsworth Longfellow