As when a swiftly passing light  
 Startles the shadows into flight;  
 While one remembrance suddenly  
 Thrills through the melting melody,— 
 A strain of music in the night. 
  
 Out of the darkness burst the song,  
 Into the darkness moves along:  
 Only a chord of memory jars,  
 Only an old wound burns its scars,  
 As the wild sweetness of the strain  
 Smites the heart with passionate pain,  
 And vanishes among the stars.