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AA Procter read by Classic Poetry Aloud: Giving voice to the poetry of the past.\nwww.classicpoetryaloud.com\n\n--------------------------------------------\n\nThe Lost Chord\nby Adelaide Anne Procter (1825 \u2013 1864)\n\nSeated one day at the organ,\nI was weary and ill-at-ease;\nAnd my fingers wandered idly\nOver the noisy keys.\n\nI know not what I was playing\nOr what I was dreaming then,\nBut I struck one chord of music\nLike the sound of a great Amen.\n\nIt flooded the crimson twilight\nLike the close of an angel's psalm,\nAnd it lay on my fevered spirit\nWith a touch of infinite calm.\n\nIt quieted pain and sorrow\nLike love overcoming strife;\nIt seemed the harmonious echo\nFrom our discordant life.\n\nIt linked all perplex\xe8d meanings\nInto one perfect peace,\nAnd trembled away into silence\nAs if it were loth to cease.\n\nI have sought, but I seek it vainly,\nThat one lost chord divine,\nWhich came from the soul of the organ\nAnd entered into mine.\n\nIt may be that death's bright angel\nWill speak in that chord again;\nIt may be that only in heav'n\nI shall hear that grand Amen.\n\n\nFirst aired: 5 January 2009\n\nFor hundreds more poetry readings, visit the Classic Poetry Aloud index.\n\nReading \xa9 Classic Poetry Aloud 2009