AA Procter read by Classic Poetry Aloud: Giving voice to the poetry of the past.

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The Lost Chord

by Adelaide Anne Procter (1825 – 1864)

Seated one day at the organ,

I was weary and ill-at-ease;

And my fingers wandered idly

Over the noisy keys.

I know not what I was playing

Or what I was dreaming then,

But I struck one chord of music

Like the sound of a great Amen.

It flooded the crimson twilight

Like the close of an angel's psalm,

And it lay on my fevered spirit

With a touch of infinite calm.

It quieted pain and sorrow

Like love overcoming strife;

It seemed the harmonious echo

From our discordant life.

It linked all perplexèd meanings

Into one perfect peace,

And trembled away into silence

As if it were loth to cease.

I have sought, but I seek it vainly,

That one lost chord divine,

Which came from the soul of the organ

And entered into mine.

It may be that death's bright angel

Will speak in that chord again;

It may be that only in heav'n

I shall hear that grand Amen.

First aired: 5 January 2009

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