Spirits in Bondage

by C.S. Lewis

XXXI - Hymn (For Boys' Voices)

All the things magicians do
     Could be done by me and you
     Freely, if we only knew.

     Human children every day
     Could play at games the faeries play
     If they were but shown the way.

     Every man a God would be
     Laughing through eternity
     If as God's his eyes could see.

     All the wizardries of God—
     Slaying matter with a nod,
     Charming spirits with his rod,

     With the singing of his voice
     Making lonely lands rejoice,
     Leaving us no will nor choice,

     Drawing headlong me and you
     As the piping Orpheus drew
     Man and beast the mountains through,

     By the sweetness of his horn
     Calling us from lands forlorn
     Nearer to the widening morn—

     All that loveliness of power
     Could be man's peculiar dower,
     Even mine, this very hour;

     We should reach the Hidden Land
     And grow immortal out of hand,
     If we could but understand!

     We could revel day and night
     In all power and all delight
     If we learn to think aright.