The Jackson Standard

Refrain.
BY H. H.
Of all the songs which poets sing,
The ones which are most sweet
Are those which at close intervals
A low refrain repeat;
Some tender word, some syllable
Over and over, ever and ever,
While the song lasts,
Altering never,
Music if sung, music if said,
Subtle like some fine golden thread
A shuttle casts,
In and out on a fabric red,
Till it all glows through
With the golden hue.
Oh! of all the songs sung,
No songs are so sweet
As the songs with refrains,
Which repeat and repeat.
Of all the lives lived
No life is so sweet
As the life where one thought
In refrain doth repeat,
Over and over, ever and ever,
Till the life ends,
Altering never
Joy which is felt, but is not said.
Subtler than any golden thread
Which the shuttle sends
In and out in a fabric red,
Till it glows all through
With a golden hue.
Oh! of all the lives lived,
Can be no life so sweet
As the life where one thought
In refrain doth repeat.
"Now name me a thought
To make life so sweet,
A thought of such joy
Its refrain to repeat.
Oh! foolish to ask me.
Ever. ever
Who loves believes;
But telleth never.
It might be a name, just a name not said;
But in every thought, like a golden thread
Which the shuttle weaves
In and out on a fabric red,
Till it glows all through
With a golden hue.
Oh! of all the sweet lives,
Who can tell how sweet
Is the life which one name
In refrain doth repeat?